Avenging Enhanced
by Aura Mackenzie
Summary: Hawkeye is called back to action when the team faces an enhanced that is as good a marksman as he is. She is an enhanced that nobody knows much of anything about except she must be captured or killed. The enhanced is cornered by the Winter Soldier to stop her mission of vengeance before the Avengers get her, but are they both meant to be found?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One:**

"Barton," I heard the Captain say on the other side of the line. "You need to come back. We have a situation with an enhanced. One that we need you for."

"Look, Cap, I appreciate that, but I left for a reason. I thought you respected that, Man."

I could hear Rogers sigh on the other side. There were things he didn't want to tell me on the phone.

"I do respect your choice, Barton. You did your time. You have every right to leave," he explained to me. "But this is different. This isn't just any enhanced. We _need_ you to come back for this. I'm not asking you to stay, Barton. If you want to leave again after this, I won't stop you. But we need you on this one."

I took in his words. It was only one more mission. They needed me and they'd let me leave when it was over. It couldn't hurt, could it?

"Laura's not gonna like it, Cap."

"I understand."

"Give me until tomorrow. You can brief me when I get there."

"Actually, I'll be coming in the Quinjet to come get you. We don't have time to waste. See you tomorrow."

Before I could say anything else, he hung up and I was worried. Things must have been more serious if he was going to come out to me in the Quinjet for this mission. Now all I had to do was tell Laura.

I walked downstairs to Laura, watching her with baby Nathaniel. I loved the kid with everything in me, especially knowing our last mission almost kept me from ever knowing him. But I knew the longer I took to talk to Laura, the harder it would be. I sat down next to her.

"What's wrong?" she asked me.

"What makes you think something is wrong?"

"I know you, Clint. You're worried about something. What was that phone call?"

I sighed. Laura always knew. It's part of why I loved her. Spy or not, there wasn't much I could hide from her.

"That was Steve. There's a mission…"

"Clint, you promised me you were out," she said, getting upset.

"I am. And I told Steve that," I replied. "But Laura, he said they needed me for this last mission. Something about an enhanced that they needed my help for."

"You already told him you'd go, didn't you?"

I nodded.

"Didn't you think that was something you should talk to your _wife_ about first?"

I felt like she'd slapped me in the face, but she was right.

"Laura, you married a spy. I told him I was out, but there is something important about this, otherwise Steve wouldn't have called me. He hasn't called me to ask me to come in once since I told them I was out. Doesn't that show that this time is different?" I asked, trying to make her understand. "I can't just ignore what I am."

"What you _were_ , Clint Barton. You _were_ a spy. You're not anymore."

I just looked at her. She didn't understand that when you became a spy, you could walk away but you never stopped being a spy.

"When do you leave, Clint?"

"Steve is picking me up here in the Quinjet tomorrow."

"And when will you be back?"

"When the mission is over, Laura. You know that."

"You mean if you don't get yourself killed first, right?"

She got up, taking Nathaniel and walked away. I thought back to Sokovia. Twice I fought there with the Avengers and twice I'd nearly gotten killed. Laura knew the truth. The second time someone else died in my place, Pietro Maximoff, the man Laura and I had named Nathaniel's middle name for. He saved me and a civilian child, in the process getting killed. If he hadn't I would have been killed by Ultron.

I spent the rest of the day with my sons and daughter. Laura was still mad at me, but she wasn't going to show that in front of them. She knew there was always a possibility I wouldn't come home. If I didn't, she wouldn't forgive herself if she let an argument keep me from spending time with the kids before I left.

At first light, the Quinjet landed about a hundred yards from my porch. I was ready. I kissed Laura's head, then went and did the same for each of my three kids. Finally, I grabbed my gear, and made my way to the Quinjet, where Captain America was waiting for me.

"Was Laura mad?" he asked me.

"Furious. She barely spoke to me after I told her yesterday, so I really hope this is something you couldn't do without me, Rogers."

"Relax, Legolas. He wouldn't have called you for just anything," Tony Stark said from the pilot's chair, turning to face us.

"Stark? I thought you got out, too?"

"We need the whole team. We don't know enough about the enhanced and she's dangerous," Rogers said, pointing down to the bandaging around his thigh.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Capsicle took a shot from the enhanced, only according to J.A.R.V.I.S., we weren't within 500 meters of another living being."

"She sniper-shot you, Cap?"

"Yes. This is my point, Barton. We don't know enough about her. We have no idea about her age, what she looks like, abilities, or anything else."

"We know she's a good marksman, up there with Legolas," Stark said.

Stark turned back around and got the Quinjet off the ground. The Captain and I went to one of the computer bays and he sat down with me, going over the intel.

"We don't think she's that old, maybe early 20s. But she's already been wreaking chaos. Her abilities as a marksman aside, she's skilled in combat…"

"Nothing in here makes her sound like an enhanced, Cap."

"A team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents went after her. They were unsuccessful. They said she nearly killed them before they got anywhere near her. When they managed to get up close, she mangled them pretty badly before…"

"Before what?"

"Before she hit the ground, a wall of flames shot up, and when it fell seconds later, she was gone, Barton."

It took me a minute to take that in. An enhanced with fire abilities. They could be some of the most dangerous in the world.

"Which team?"

"Agent May's team."

"Any casualties?"

"No. Close, but May doesn't think she was actually looking to kill them, just keep them away from her."

"And May couldn't even get the drop on this enhanced?"

"No, why?"

"You don't know about May?"

"What about her?"

"She's one of the top agents S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever had in the field. She was Coulson's partner, they called her the Calvary. Not much she _can't_ do."

"Well, you'll get to talk to her and her team back at the new base."

"What do you mean?"

"We've brought them in. They've been the only ones we've been able to track to survive a face-off with this enhanced, so we've brought them in for a debriefing before the mission."

"What is our mission, Cap?"

"Ideally, apprehension, Barton."

"And if we can't apprehend her, Captain?"

"We need to eliminate her."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two:**

 **Enhanced's POV:**

"Damn it," I cursed in Russian as I peeled my shirt off my ribs where the agent's gunshot had hit me.

The shirt had stuck to my flesh because of the dried blood, making removing it very painful. Why couldn't they just leave me the hell alone? I wasn't coming for them, at least I hadn't until they came for me. I just wanted to be left alone to deal with the people who took the only family I had ever had in my life from me. Why couldn't they understand that?

I finally got my shirt off and saw that the bullet wound, which was a graze, was already almost fully healed. It was one of the side effects of the experiments that had been done on my mother when she was pregnant with me. I took the alcohol and cleaned what was left of the wound before getting in the shower. My muscles were tense from using my abilities, from the fight with those agents. And I knew this was far from over.

When I got out of the shower, I sat down to watch t.v. with a sandwich. Thankfully, the firefight between me and those agents was nowhere on any of the news stations. The last thing I wanted was more intelligence agencies coming to look for me. Pulling a blanket over me, I started to fall asleep.

I didn't know what time it was when I heard the noise in the safehouse I was staying in. I got up as quietly as I could and grabbed the gun I had under my couch. It didn't matter. Just as quickly as I had it, it was knocked out of my hand to the floor and I was pinned back to the couch.

"What were you thinking, Sophie?" he snarled in my face in Russian.

Most people would have needed time to adjust their vision in the dark, but I didn't. I could see his features clearly. His dark hair was falling in his dark eyes. He was wearing all black, but I could see traces of the metal left arm that was pinning me to my couch.

"Which part, Sergeant Barnes?" I replied.

He pushed down further on my shoulder with his metal arm. I refused to wince.

"Starting with S.H.I.E.L.D.? What is wrong with you?"

S.H.I.E.L.D.? I had heard of them.

"You mean the ones that put the Avengers together?" I asked him, still speaking Russian.

"Yes. Why were you starting with them?"

"That's who came after me?"

He eased up his grip on me.

"You didn't know?"

I shook my head.

"That was a S.H.I.E.L.D. team, Sophie. Given how badly they handled trying to get to you, chances are the next step is they will send the Avengers after you."

I must have faltered in keeping my façade up. Sergeant Barnes changed back to a gentler part of him. He still wasn't who he was before he became the Winter Soldier, but he had a softer side. Finally, he started speaking to me in English.

"What were you doing, Soph?" he asked me, letting go of my shoulder and pulling me into a sitting position next to him.

"The researchers, I went to take them out, Bucky. That team of agents showed up while I was leaving, Bucky. I had no intent on engaging them until they started firing at me."

"You've been going around the world stealing and assassinating. You knew you'd get on someone's watch list eventually."

"I didn't think it would be S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers."

"You have enhanced abilities. Why wouldn't they want to get to you?"

"What do I do, Bucky?"

"You need to get out of here. If I could find you, I'm sure they could."

"But you know me. Nobody else really does."

"They'll find a way to find out about you, Soph. Go pack. We need to move you to a new location."

"Why are you doing this, Bucky?"

"You remind me of someone. I'm not sure who."

I got up and packed the essentials. Bucky and I left under the cover of night.

 **Barton's POV:**

I got to the new Avengers' base and immediately Nat came to me.

"Good to have you back, Barton."

"It's temporary, Tasha."

"Still good to have you here. I miss how well we work together."

"You guys haven't been doing that bad without me."

"It's still not the same."

I hugged her, knowing what we meant to each other. The two of us were closer than either of us were to any of the other Avengers.

"I miss you too, Tasha."

Everyone but Banner and Thor were gathered in the new facility. They still hadn't found Banner and Thor was back on Asgard. We were taken to a conference room, where Fury was waiting for us. When we sat down, he started talking to us.

"Now, I assume everyone in here is up to speed on the enhanced we're trying to track. But before I let you debrief Agent May's team, there is something all of you need to know," he started. "A call was made, three years ago, that affected everyone in this room. Loki killed Phil Coulson and that is what brought this team together. However, the call that affected everyone, was the one not to tell you that Phil Coulson is alive again. We had developed a program, that was still in its test-stages, to resurrect someone in case of a fallen Avenger. When Loki killed Coulson, I made the call to have the protocol used on him and not tell anyone."

Every one of us was in an uproar. Coulson was mine and Natasha's handler. He was a good man. Stark had taken his death hard because he wasn't like the rest of us, a fighter, and he was killed in the line of action. It was the same for Captain America. And Fury just admitted he used Coulson's death to pull us together as a team. I smirked, and Fury caught it.

"What are you smiling about, Barton?"

"Well, no offense, Director Fury, but all of us here are infuriated by this news. What do you think is going to happen to you when say Thor returns from Asgard and finds out that you lied about the death of _Son of Coul_ to manipulate us? I can't imagine he's going to be very happy with you."

Stark and Natasha started laughing, knowing I was right.

"Enough of this. We don't have time for this. We need to debrief that team so we can prepare to find that enhanced. She's dangerous," Rogers said, obviously putting aside his anger for the greater good, as usual.

"Fine. Bring them in," Fury said.

The door opened, and at the front of the team was none other than Phil Coulson.

"Good to see something good came out of that," Coulson said. "Avengers, this is my team, Agents May, Sky, Fitz, Simmons, and Hunter. We're here to tell you about the enhanced you'll be looking for."

Sky walked over to the computer and pulled up some information. It was a profile.

"Our best guess is that she's in her late teens to early twenties," Sky said. "She took three warning shots at us, literally hitting points inches away from us before we knew that she was on to us, so we know that she's an excellent marksman. She's committed ten assassinations in the last six weeks in as many countries. All marks seem to be scientists."

Agents Simmons came forward and started explaining who the marks were and their work. All were into human experimentation, so the running theory was the enhanced was somehow involved in their work and now out for blood. They were trying to track anyone who was connected to any project any of the marks had been on so they could try to catch her going for them. Agent May came forward at that point, all business as usual.

"The enhanced doesn't seem to be unorganized. So far, there have been no civilian casualties at any of her hits. She's efficient, she gets in, she hits her mark, she gets out. Nobody but her mark is hurt. Not even when we engaged her, no civilians were hurt in the crossfire. She's skilled and organized, which makes her more dangerous."

"Is there any physical description you can give us? Any information about weapons of choice or her abilities?" Rogers asked.

"From what we've seen, she uses various weapons. She's used guns and a bow and arrow as well as more close-range weapons, such as knives and daggers. As for her abilities, Captain America, Sir, we know she is pyrokinetic, and seems to have some kind of teleportation ability, but beyond that, we haven't been able to get a comprehensive list of what she can do," Fitz said.

"And she's not too tall, sandy blonde hair, not too thin. With the distance she kept us at, that's the best I can give ya," said Hunter.

It was more than the team had earlier in the day. We'd have to go with it.

"We'll need that list of scientists that may have worked with her kills," Tasha said.

"Of course, Agent Romanoff," Simmons replied.

Coulson's team was dismissed and we stayed to go over what intel they'd gathered. It was time to get ready to hunt this girl down.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three:**

 **Sophie's POV:**

"You need to take time off from this crusade of your's, Sophie. The Avengers are going to find you at one of these marks," Bucky warned me.

"I can't. I have to finish them now _before_ the Avengers can stop me. If any of them have pieced together who I'm after, I won't have much time before they move them or there waiting for me."

"It won't bring her back," he said to me gently.

I took a deep breath. Fighting with Bucky could be dangerous. He was trying to be nice, mentor me in a way since he found me not long after my mother died. But we both know he could just as easily be a cold-blooded killer if he was pushed too far.

"I know that. But they need to pay."

I grabbed my gear and made my way out of the safehouse he moved me to. After a long trip I wound up at the lab of Doctor Michael Patrickson in Glasgow, Scotland. I got into the building unseen.

 **Barton's POV:**

"We've got a hit!" Sam called out to us.

We were flying towards Europe, two of her last three hits were in the European Union. We gathered around Sam, aka Falcon, to find out what he had for us. He pressed a few buttons on the computer before talking.

"A break-in at the facility of a Doctor Michael Patrickson in Glasgow, Scotland. Cross-referencing confirms he has worked with three of her five hits," Falcon informed us.

"Any video surveillance to show her at the facility?" Natasha asked Falcon.

"Negative. The security cameras went off-line right before the alarm did. It only went off for a few seconds before it went dead."

"Then how do we know it's her?" I asked.

"Because I pulled some security footage from across the street. A female, approximately the description Agent Hunter gave in the briefing is seen entering the premises about 90 seconds before their system went down," said Stark.

"Is Doctor Patrickson still in the facility?" asked Rogers.

"I believe so, Captain. There was no evidence to see him leaving within the last hour before the security feed was cut out," said The Vision.

"What is our plan?" asked Wanda, aka Scarlet Witch.

"We go in, try to corner her so we can apprehend her. Hawkeye, if you can, use a tranquilizer on her. If that doesn't work, we'll need you to go for the kill shot."

"Yes, Sir, Captain," I said, confirming my mission, even though I didn't like it.

I walked away at that point. This girl was a kid. Maybe a few years older than my son. And my mission was to kill her if I couldn't tranquilize her. I didn't like it. If circumstances were different, I also wouldn't follow the order.

"You okay?" Tasha asked, sitting next to me.

"What makes you ask?"

"Come on, Hawkeye. You may see just about everything, but I see you. This bothers you. Just like it did when they sent you to kill me. You don't want to kill her, do you?"

"You're my Black Widow. You're different. What makes you think she is too?"

"I can just tell. Come on, Clint. You can be honest with me."

I sighed. She knew me better than Laura, which said something.

"You're right, Tasha. This feels wrong to me."

"Then we'll do everything we can to apprehend her. I promise."

"Thanks."

"Thirty minutes out!" Stark called from the pilot's seat. "Get your asses ready to fight!"

 **Sophie's POV:**

"You son of a bitch, do you remember me?" I asked him.

He was trembling. He shook his head no. I threw pictures of my mother on his desk.

"Do you remember _her_?"

He nodded.

"Anya. She was a test subject in some experiments I've worked on. It had a bad effect on her, ultimately, the effects of the experimentation took her life."

I stabbed a dagger into his thigh. He screamed in pain.

"You say that so clinically, without emotion, but what about her family?" I yelled at him.

"She had no family…"

I saw the realization of who I was hit him.

"You're her daughter, aren't you? You are the one the project needed in order for the experiments to succeed. You are enhanced, aren't you?"

"You have to ask?" I asked him as I drove a dagger into his other leg.

"What can you do?"

"You'll never know. None of you will ever know. I'm not going to give you a chance to torture me the way you tortured her until she died."

"The security cameras…"

"Shorted out when I got here. They're not recording. Your security system is completely down."

I stabbed him in his stomach, letting him start to bleed out, letting him feel the life drain from him. We both heard it at the same time. An aircraft landing. I cursed in Russian. He smirked at me.

"Looks like you won't get to kill me after all."

"Don't be so sure," I said as I pulled out a 9mm and shot him between the eyes. "I just had to do it faster than I wanted to."

I dove toward the corner, out of sight of all the windows, trying to gauge who showed up. It was when I saw Iron Man that I knew it was the Avengers. I saw Iron Man and The Vision go to the roof with War Machine and Falcon. That meant that Black Widow, Captain America, Scarlet Witch, and apparently Hawkeye, since they called in the retired Avengers, would be coming from the ground floors.

I waited until I heard doors close in the hallways and counted to ten before calling on my fire portal, picturing their Quinjet. Appearing in their Quinjet, I locked it down and hijacked it, avoiding a confrontation with the Avengers by the skin of my teeth.

 **Barton's POV:**

"Barton. What's your position?" Rogers called in my ear.

"In Patrickson's office. He's dead. The enhanced isn't in here, but there are scorch marks, Cap."

At that moment, I heard the Quinjet and ran to the window, where I saw it lifting off and go into stealth mode.

"Stark, are you in the Quinjet?" I asked him.

"No. Why?"

"Because I think the enhanced just stole it."

"Shit!"

"Language!" Rogers let slip again.

We all started making our way outside, but there was no way to track the Quinjet. Not even Tony could track it.

"We've been outsmarted by an enhanced target," Natasha said.

"The girl is smart," I replied. "She knew we were here. Patrickson wasn't dead for long. She finished what she came here for and got out while we made our way to her."

"We need to find that enhanced. And soon," Rogers said.

 **Sophie's POV:**

I left the Quinjet about a thousand miles from the safehouse Bucky moved me to. I hopped on a train to get back to it. When I got off the train, I made my way to the safehouse. Bucky was waiting for me and he didn't seem happy.

"Where's the Quinjet?" he snarled at me.

"At least a thousand miles away from here. I'm not stupid. I left it and hopped a train, nobody knows what I look like."

"Really?" he asked me, grabbing me by the arm, pulling me into the living room. "Then what's that?"

My face, while not very clear, was on the television. A report about me being armed and dangerous was running, stating how I was wanted in connection with nearly a dozen murders, and that the Avengers were now responsible for my apprehension. My stomach dropped.

"I didn't know. The security at the facility died when I got there like normal."

"That shot was pulled from across the street, Sophie. Pack. Now. We need to go, before someone calls in a tip leading the Avengers here."

I nodded and went to grab the last of my things so we could leave quickly.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four:**

 **Barton's POV:**

 _Two Days Later:_

We found the Quinjet, and with the help of public tips, we found where the enhanced was hiding out. Unfortunately, by the time we found her safehouse, she was gone. We searched the house for anything she may have left behind and it was during that search that I found something that gave us our first clue about the enhanced, one that sent me back to another time in my life, before S.H.I.E.L.D., before the Avengers, before Laura…

 _Eighteen Years Earlier:_

 _There weren't enough heroes in the world. There were so many villains, evils, destroying people's lives, but not enough heroes to balance it. I wasn't known to anyone, but I had skills that could help me fight evil. So, with my bow and arrow, I went out at night, lurking in the shadows to stop the bad guys._

 _It was after I had stopped a mugger, but been injured in the process, that I met her. A woman with sandy blonde hair and green eyes. I had saved her, and lost a lot of blood from a stab wound. I must have collapsed, because when I woke up, I was in an unfamiliar apartment. Not long after I woke up, she came into the room._

" _You're alright! I don't know what I would have done if you died trying to save me," she said, putting a straw to my mouth._

 _I drank some water before I said anything._

" _Thank you."_

" _No, thank you. I don't know what would have happened to me if you hadn't shown up."_

 _It was then that I had realized what I stopped wasn't just a mugging._

" _They were after more than your purse, weren't they?"_

 _She looked at the floor and I had my answer._

" _Why were they after you?"_

 _She looked at me, like she wanted to tell me, but didn't know how. I sighed, trying to figure out how to handle this. I was young, trying to help protect people from the bad guys. I was a stranger to her._

" _Look, how about we start with introductions. My name is Clint. What's your name?"_

" _Anya. Anya Holden."_

" _It's nice to meet you, Anya," I said as I sat up, wincing as I felt the stab wound for the first time since I woke up._

" _Careful, you don't want to tear your stitches," Anya said to me, gently pushing me back down on the bed._

" _Stitches?"_

" _The stab wound was pretty bad. You were losing a lot of blood, so I brought you home with me and stitched you up. Considering you were wearing a mask, I didn't think you'd want to go to the hospital, but you needed help."_

" _And you just happened to have stitches lying around?"_

" _It's complicated. They were among the supplies I keep here for work."_

" _Work? What are you a doctor?"_

" _Yes and no. I graduated medical school when I was sixteen, but I stopped practicing after I finished my fellowship. I work in research now."_

" _What are you? Some kind of genius?"_

" _Kinda," she said, running her hand through her hair._

" _And that's why that guy was after you, isn't it?"_

 _She looked me right in the eyes._

" _Yes. They want the research I work with."_

" _Let me guess, you can't tell me what it is."_

 _She looked down at the floor and sighed again._

" _I'm sorry. I can't."_

" _Then I guess I'm gonna be hanging around at night to keep an eye on you. I'll meet you, at the café two blocks from where they tried to grab you, until we can figure something out, to get you home safe," I said sitting up carefully._

" _Why would you do that for me?"_

" _In case you missed it before I collapsed from blood loss, I'm trying to keep people safe. Knowing something is going on with you, I'm keep an eye on you to keep you safe."_

" _Thank you," she said as she leaned over and kissed my cheek._

 _I could feel the heat in my cheeks._

Present:

"Barton. Barton! Earth to Legolas!" Stark called to me, pulling me out of my memory.

"Yeah, Stark?"

"Capsicle sent me to check on you because you stopped responding to comms," he said looking at me, noticing what was in my hand. "What ya got in your hand?"

"A picture I found in the corner."

Stark looked at me.

"Do you know who that is?" he asked me.

I nodded.

"We should get back to the Quinjet. It seems that's the only clue we've found here. You can tell all of us together."

I got up and followed Stark out. Once we were in the air, he set J.A.R.V.I.S. to take over piloting and I was given the floor to explain what was found.

"I don't know why it was there. But I know who this is."

"Who is she, Clint?" Natasha asked me.

"Her name was Dr. Anya Holden. I met her when I was seventeen. She was twenty-two."

"Barton, you sly-dog! Into cougars! I never would have thought…" Stark started.

"Stark, knock it off. Let him speak," Rogers interrupted Stark, before turning back to me. "What do you know about her, Barton?"

"She was a genius. Graduated medical school at sixteen, stopped practicing medicine and went into research when she finished her fellowship. I met her when I stopped what I thought was a routine mugging one night, when I first started getting into this."

"What happened?" Sam asked.

"I saved the girl, but she saved me that night, too. I got stabbed, pretty badly, and she took care of me. She kept my secret, so nobody knew it was me out there. But it was when I had initially woken up that I realized it wasn't a mugging. They were after more. They wanted her research."

"What was she working on?" Rogers asked.

"I never found out."

"What do you mean?" Wanda asked me.

"Anya and I were really close, but I failed her."

"How did you fail her, Agent Barton?" asked The Vision.

"About six months after I started watching her, I lost her. We got ambushed when she got out of work. I thought she had gotten killed. I know that I nearly did. And when I came around and realized she wasn't there, I didn't really care if I did die."

"You fell for her." Natasha stated.

I nodded.

"We had been together for almost four months when this all went down. I saw some of the blows she took. She shouldn't have survived. But I got hurt pretty bad. Woke up in a hospital a few days later, several broken bones. She was never found."

I couldn't look at the team. The memories of that failure had haunted me for nearly two decades. Stark was at one of the computers.

"Dr. Anya Holden, kid genius, graduated Harvard Medical School at age 16, did her internship at NYU, her fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. When she stopped practicing medicine, she was working on research projects that involved genetics and evolution," Stark said, turning to us. "Sounds right up the alley of the Hydra researchers who were into human experimentation."

"She wasn't Hydra!" I snarled at him.

"He didn't say she was, Clint," Tasha said to me while glaring at Tony.

"She died eighteen months ago. Her only family was a daughter… Who would be seventeen years old if she's still alive."

A seventeen year old daughter? That fit with when we were together.

"What do you mean if she was still alive?"

"She's been missing for years. Nobody knows if she's alive or dead. Dr. Holden wouldn't say whether or not the girl survived," Stark replied.

"How did Anya die?"

"She apparently went from the researcher to the experiment. Years of being experimented on caught up with her. Her body finally gave out," Stark said looking at the screen before looking up at me. "I'm sorry, Clint. Nobody should have to go through that."

"Do you have any information on the daughter?"

"Sophie Francis Holden, no father listed, she would be seventeen, that's all we know," Stark replied.

Sophie _Francis_ Holden. My middle name was her middle name. Not many people knew that was my middle name, but Anya did. Could this girl, this enhanced we were hunting, be my long-lost daughter?


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five:**

 **Sophie's POV:**

"Bucky?" I called out in the safehouse we were in.

It had been three weeks since we had fled the safehouse because the Avengers had nearly caught me in Glasgow. Bucky had forced me to lay low because he had intel that a few days after we left that safehouse, the Avengers raided it. He was right, but he usually was. I was just stubborn.

Bucky came out of the basement, using a cloth to wipe grease off his human hand. I wasn't sure if he was doing maintenance on his metal arm or working on something else. If he didn't volunteer the information I wasn't going to ask him either. He was still a little mad at me.

"What is it?"

"I brought dinner back with me," I said, lifting the take-out bags.

He nodded at me and went to clean up. I set the table. When he came back down we started eating. It was while he was eating I decided to break the silence.

"Are we just gonna hide here forever?"

He put his utensils down and glared at me. He was angry at me and he had every right to be, but I was going insane in the safehouse. The only time I was allowed to leave was on my patrols or to pick up food.

"You really want to get into this, Sophie?"

"It's just…"

"I told you that it was a bad idea to go to Glasgow, Sophie. You didn't listen to me. Now your choices are that you listen to me or I can leave you on your own. If you get caught by the Avengers it will not be my problem."

"That's kinda harsh, Bucky. I was just trying to make the people who ruined my life pay. Wouldn't you do that if you could?"

"Not if it meant being compromised to do it," he snapped at me. "I'm trying to teach you what you need to know, help you, but if you don't want my help I'm not going to let you bring both of us down."

"But that doesn't answer why we haven't moved from here, Bucky."

"You forgot something at the last safehouse, Sophie. It was one of the pictures of your mother. The Avengers found it, so they now have one more piece to your puzzle. It will make it easier for them to figure out which scientists you are after. If you make any moves on them, the Avengers will be waiting for you. If we make too many movements, they will find out. It is best if we just stay off the grid here for a while."

 **Barton's POV:**

It had been almost two months since we had found the picture of Anya. There had been no sign of the enhanced, none of the scientists that were involved in any of the research projects that were still alive had been attacked. The team had nothing to go on. Part of me knew that Laura would tell me to go home until they had something. But the other part of me wouldn't risk it. If this girl was my daughter, I couldn't leave and risk not being here the second something popped. It could mean the difference between her apprehension and elimination.

My phone started ringing and I looked at the caller ID. It was Laura. I was tempted to ignore it, knowing what was coming with the call, but I knew I couldn't.

"Hey, Honey," I said.

"How's the mission?"

"Slow. The enhanced went underground."

"So come home until they find something, Clint."

"I can't, Laura. I need to be here for this mission. Steve was right."

"But nothing is happening. I need you. Your kids need you."

 _More than you know,_ I thought.

"I know that, Laura, but this mission is different."

"What's so different?"

"The enhanced is young. If our information is right, she's only about seventeen or eighteen. I'm worried that if I leave and they get a hit on her, they'll eliminate her if they can't subdue her. I can't let them do that, Laura. She's just a kid."

"What about your kids, Clint?"

"Laura, I wish you could understand."

"I understand just fine, Clint Francis Barton. You are putting a mission above your family."

Laura hung up on me and I wanted to throw my phone. She didn't know. But if she did know, I didn't know how she'd react, either. I grabbed my bow and arrows and went to the range.

I put earbuds in as I practiced my shooting. Unlike some of the other Avengers, my skills came with practice and conditioning. I drew my 250-pound draw bowstring and aimed at a target. I was shooting three arrows at once. All three hit the target. After about an hour of this, I was calmer. I returned to the Avengers' facility.

"Any updates?" I asked.

"We might," Stark said. "I've got some contacts in a small town in Tennessee. There's some possible movement there."

"Tennessee? Why do you have contacts there?" I asked him.

"I wound up there for a while after the Mandarin blew up my house in Malibu," he replied. "Doesn't matter. Hang on."

Tony dialed a phone number. It rang twice and a kid picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Harley, you got anything for me?"

"Tony?"

"No, your fairy godmother."

"Okay, then I want…"

"Of course it's Tony, Kid!" Tony exclaimed.

"Stark, your contact is a kid?" Rogers asked.

"The kid is smart and reliable. Trust me," he said to Rogers before going back to the phone. "Do you have any information on the girl in the picture I sent you?"

"I've seen her, Tony, but she doesn't really talk to anyone. She stays to herself."

"What do you mean, Harley?"

"She comes into town, gets take-out or other food and things and leaves. She keeps to herself, doesn't cause any trouble. If it's not her, it's her friend."

"Friend? She's there with a friend?"

"Yeah. A guy, always wears long sleeves and gloves even though it's the middle of summer. He's kinda intimidating."

"Bucky," Rogers said.

Stark looked at him and hit a few keys on the computer.

"Harley, are you by your computer?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I just sent you an email, Kid. Check it. Tell me if that's the guy who's with the girl."

"Hang on."

We could hear him using his computer.

"Do you really think that Bucky is with this girl, Cap?" Stark asked Rogers.

"It would make sense that he would wear the long sleeves and gloves even in the summer heat. He'd be trying to hide the metal arm Hydra gave him. I just don't know why he would be with her, how he would know her," Rogers replied.

"Tony, that's him. He wears a baseball hat when he comes into town so it's not easy to see his face, but that's definitely her friend. On days when she doesn't come around he does."

Rogers and Sam exchanged a look. We all knew that they had been looking for the Winter Soldier since S.H.I.E.L.D. fell. Before the Soviets got hold of him, Bucky was Steve's best friend.

"Alright Harley, all I want you to do is keep an eye on things. Do not, under any circumstances, approach them."

"Are you coming back?"

"Yeah. With friends. I'll call you when I get to Tennessee."

Tony hung up the phone and turned to us.

"We're taking information from a child?" Wanda asked.

"That kid helped me in a bind when I had nothing to work with. He saved my life. He's a good kid. I trust him, so, yeah, we're taking information from him."

"Steve?" Sam asked.

"I'm with Stark. He's got experience with the kid. If he says we can trust the information, we'll do it. It's the only hit we've had on the enhanced," Rogers said.

"And Barnes?" Natasha asked.

"We'll take it one step at a time to figure out why he's with her," Steve replied. "Get what you need. The Quinjet takes off in five."

 **Sophie's POV:**

Bucky and I were in the woods behind the safehouse training. He helped keep my combat skills sharp, and it was better to do it outdoors so we didn't break the house. It wasn't easy to spar with him because he was a very serious partner.

I had just ducked his metal arm and his normal arm was coming at me with a knife. I pulled an arrow from the quiver on my back and deflected it before landing a roundhouse kick on him. We were going back and forth when suddenly he got very tense and stopped. I slowed my breathing as I tried to listen for whatever made him stop. After a minute I heard it, noises in the woods around us.

Bucky pushed me to the ground as an arrow went by where I had been standing. He pulled a gun from one of the holsters on his back. I readied my bow. Listening, I took aim to my left and let my arrow fly. I heard someone curse in the distance and knew I hit a target, but it wasn't enough. The noise were getting closer to us.

A small disc hit Bucky's metal arm and it started to spark, becoming useless. There was some kind of red mist around me that made moving hard. Suddenly, Iron Man landed in front of us. A minute later, Captain America came running into the clearing, Hawkeye was in the trees not far behind him, covering him.

"Don't touch her!" Bucky yelled.

"Why not? She's the reason we're here," Iron Man said.

"Barton, the tranquilizer," Captain America said.

"No!" I yelled, trying to bring my bow and arrow up or call on the fire portal to get me and Bucky out of there.

Suddenly there was a sharp pain in my shoulder and everything started getting fuzzy. There was a dart in my arm. Bucky was starting to get feeling back in his arm and struggling, but Iron Man had already restrained him.

"Leave her alone!" He yelled as my vision started growing dark.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six:**

 **Barton's POV:**

When we got back to the Avengers' facility with the enhanced and the Winter Soldier, I knew that the first thing they were going to do was run tests on the two of them to see what was done to them to enhance them. While each of them were being brought to their holding cells, I grabbed Helen Cho.

"Helen, can I talk to you for a second before you get busy?"

"What is it, Agent Barton?"

"They're gonna have you do a full work-up on these two, right?"

"Yes. Tony has already told me we need to know what their genetic differences are, and as for the girl, we need to figure out what her enhancements are."

"I need a favor from you. And I need you to keep it from everyone else here."

She gave me a worried look.

"What is it you need, Agent Barton? Because I can get into a lot of trouble…"

"I need you to run a paternity test on the girl."

My words shocked Helen.

"Who am I testing her against?"

I looked around to make sure we were alone. When I was sure I answered her.

"Me."

"Why would you think she's your daughter, Agent Barton?"

"Long story short, I was with her mother. The timing is right, but I thought her mother died. I didn't know she was pregnant. I need to know if this girl is mine. If she is, I need to protect her."

"Protect her? Protect her from what?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers. I won't let them eliminate her," I said solemnly. "Please Helen, help me. Help me find out if this girl I just tranquilized and brought in here is my daughter."

She nodded and brought me to her office where she took some of my blood and marked it only as sample "Y."

"Thank you, Helen. You have no idea what this means to me."

"I hope you know what you're doing, Agent Barton."

"Me, too."

 **Sophie's POV:**

When I started to come around, I felt very weak. It was a feeling I wasn't used to. My limbs felt heavy and my mind was slow. I finally got myself to sit up and look around the room and realized that I was in some kind of cell. It was a clinically-clean white room, with minimal furniture in it. I was on the bed. I needed to get out and find Bucky, so I tried to use my fire portals to get out. It was then that I realized I couldn't.

"It won't work here," Captain America said coming into the cell. "The bands on your wrists and the collar on your neck are neutralizing most of your enhancements."

I wanted to attack him, but the bands and collar I hadn't noticed explained the weakness I felt.

"What do you want from me? What are you gonna do to me?"

"First, we want to know why you've killed nearly a dozen research scientists in the last six months."

"You mean to tell me you don't know already?" I asked sarcastically.

"Is it because they experimented on you and made you like this?"

"They never used me as a lab rat!"

"Then how are you…"

"I was born this way, you moron!"

"How…"

"It was my _mother_ they tested on! Right through her pregnancy! Right up until they killed her!"

Captain America looked thoroughly shocked. He obviously didn't know what to do with someone like me.

"How do you know Bucky Barnes?" he pushed on, trying to avoid the subject that enraged me.

I wouldn't answer him. I wasn't going to tell him anything about Bucky. If Bucky wanted to tell them, that was his business, but it wasn't coming from me. I owed him that much.

"Answer me!"

"That's enough, Cap." Hawkeye said from the doorway to my cell.

"Barton…"

"I mean it, Captain. I think you need to leave. Now."

Captain America looked at me with aggravation but looked at Hawkeye with a look that betrayed how pissed off he was. He didn't like being interrupted by someone he thought was his inferior. After a minute, he left with Hawkeye. I could hear them arguing in the hall outside my room, but I couldn't understand what it was they were saying. A few minutes later, the arguing stopped and my cell door opened again. This time it was Hawkeye coming in.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

I looked at him like he had three heads.

"Seriously? I have essentially shackles on, they're muting my powers, and you're asking me if I'm okay?"

"I'm sorry, but it's for safety reasons."

"Says the man who shot me with a tranquilizer."

"After you shot Falcon in the stomach with an arrow, I might add. Nice shot, by the way. Considering there was no way you could see him with all the trees and everything, that was a very good show of your marksmanship."

Was he really praising my ability?

"Thanks… I think."

"Here," he said handing me a cup with a straw. "I thought you might be thirsty."

I took the cup and drank from it cautiously, worried he might try to drug me again. It wasn't a trick, it was sweet. Soda.

"Soda? Seriously? I thought I'd be lucky to get water the way Captain America was acting."

Hawkeye laughed.

"What are you doing here, anyway? Everyone knows that you retired after the destruction of Ultron in Sokovia."

"I was asked to come back in because of you. Your abilities as a marksman made them think they needed someone with a similar background."

"So they called you out of retirement for me."

He nodded.

"Sorry," I said as I drank some more of the soda.

He looked at me for a minute.

"What?" I asked him.

"You don't seem like a bad kid. Reports we received all said the only injuries or deaths at any of your marks were the people you were after. Why are you doing this, Kid?"

"Sophie."

"What?"

"My name is Sophie. Stop calling me Kid."

"Alright, Sophie. Tell me why a girl who is obviously as smart as you are got involved with something like this."

I looked at him for a minute. I didn't know whether or not to trust him. But he was trying to be nice to me.

"Why are you the one questioning me? I figured I'd be dealing with Captain America, War Machine, Iron Man, Black Widow, or even one of the agents from S.H.I.E.L.D. Why you, Hawkeye?"

"You can call me Clint. Or Barton. Most people around here call me Barton."

"Okay, Clint, why are you interrogating me?"

"Because I knew your mother a very long time ago, Sophie. And I don't want them to overstep their boundaries. I know you can't be more than seventeen, and they might forget that because of your enhanced abilities. I won't."

I didn't know what to say. My jaw dropped. My heart clenched.

"You knew my mom?" I barely got out.

He nodded.

"Eighteen years ago, I was just starting to get into this business. I was out one night when I saw what I thought was a mugging. I stopped it, but your mother needed to help me after I saved her. I was losing a lot of blood from an injury I got in the fight. She took me home with her and stitched me up. That's when I figured out it wasn't a mugging. I was seventeen, but I wasn't going to leave her alone. So, every night for six months, I met your mother when she got out of work to bring her home."

"Why only six months?"

"Because we got ambushed. I thought we were both going to die. I thought she had died. I woke up in the hospital a few days later. Nobody ever found her again. I didn't hear anything else about her until that night we raided your safehouse and found her picture. That was when I found out what happened to her, and it was like someone tore open that scar. I failed her that night, but I won't fail you, Sophie. I'm not going to let anyone just use you."

"You tried to protect her from the people who ultimately did this to us, didn't you?"

He nodded.

"I didn't know it, but I did. I would have died if I could have saved her."

 **Barton's POV:**

My phone went off at that point. I saw it was from Helen and check the text. It was the results of the paternity test.

"How many other scientists are there that you are after, Sophie?"

"Why are you asking me? So you can save their worthless lives so they can do this to someone else? Or so they can try to find me? Because I'm the missing key to their experiments."

They needed her to complete their experiments. I couldn't let them have her.

"I can't let you kill them, but I can promise to make sure they are never free to experiment on anyone else again if you help me find them."

"Why do you care?"

"For your mother. For you. Because I don't believe anyone should be a lab rat. There are a lot of reasons."

"Why me?"

"Because if this is dealt with, will you stop killing?"

"I just want them gone."

"Then you'll be able to have a life again, Sophie. Let me help you. Let _us_ help you. It is what we actually do."

"I want to see Bucky before I agree to anything."

"I need to talk to Steve about that."

"Then you should."

I nodded and left the room. I went to the conference room where I knew I would find Rogers. He was still angry.

"What was that about, Barton?"

"You weren't going to get anywhere with her snapping at her. I have reason for going in there and stopping you. I got some information out of her, not much, but it's something."

"What did you learn, Legolas?"

"She is Anya's daughter. These scientists, they've never experimented on her, but they need her to complete the experiments they started on her mother. She's enhanced because they started testing on Anya while she was _pregnant_. All she wants is to wipe the guys who hurt her mom out so they can't hurt her or anyone else ever again."

"So will she tell us where to find the rest of the scientists?" Rogers asked.

"Not yet."

"Why not?" Natasha asked.

"She wants to see the Winter Soldier. She said she won't agree to anything until she talks to him."

"You didn't agree to that, did you," asked Rhodes.

"No, of course I didn't. I told her I needed to talk to the Captain."

"Well, what do you think, Rogers?" asked Natasha.

"It might be the best way to get either of them talking. If she's serious and only wants the people involved in these experiments prevented from hurting people again, her helping us can go a long way. We can apprehend them and she'd be able to be trained to handle her enhancements and live her life," Rogers replied. "Take her to see Bucky."

 **Author's Note: I hope that you're enjoying my story. Please R/R to tell me what you think. Thank you to TabbyoftheSun for all your reviews!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven:**

 **Sophie's POV:**

Barton came back to my cell and he had more sugar for me… this time he brought me a cupcake. It was like he was trying to make me like him.

"So, what did Captain Righteous have to say?" I asked him as I ate the cupcake.

He laughed. I couldn't help but smile.

"Steve said that we should let you see Barnes. I'm gonna take you to him."

When I finished with the cupcake he put me in loose fitting manacles and led me to a large room with a glass wall as the fourth wall. They'd be able to watch everything Bucky and I did in that room. They may have agreed to let us see each other, but they weren't agreeing to let us have privacy. At the door to the new room, Barton took the manacles off my wrists.

"They'll be bringing Barnes in in just a minute or so. Don't make me look bad for taking these off of you," he said holding up the manacles.

I nodded at him before sitting at the table in the room. Bucky was brought in a few minutes later. They shackled him to the table. I wanted to say something, but I was trying not to get Barton in trouble since he stuck his neck out for me. When they left the room, Bucky looked at me and noticed my new hardware.

"What did they do to you, Sophie?"

"The collar and the bands block my enhancements. I can't use my pyrokinesis or the portals."

"Do those things hurt you?"

"A little, but that's not why I wanted to see you."

"Then why would you risk asking them for anything?"

"They asked me for the list of scientists that I haven't killed yet. Hawkeye says that if I give it to them they'll capture them so they can't hurt me or anyone else ever again. But Captain America was asking me questions about you, that I wouldn't answer, and I'm not sure what I should do here, Sergeant. Should I trust them? Or do you think either way we're both gonna spend our lives locked up in some cell here as lab rats?"

"Sophie, you have to do what you feel is right. I don't know what they're planning on doing to us, but I won't tell them anything and I appreciate that you're not giving them any intel on me, either. But we both know that deep down, your mission has always been bringing down the men who were involved in what happened with your mother. If you think you can trust them to help you complete that mission, that is up to you."

"But what about you?"

"I can take care of myself."

"But you've become the closest thing I've got to family since Mom died. I can't just ignore that."

"Don't worry about me."

 **Barton's POV:**

I was standing outside the room the Winter Soldier and Sophie were in. Watching them, I could see they cared about each other. His immediate reaction was concern for her due to the equipment being used to restrict her powers. She was worried about him too, no matter how much he tried to tell her she shouldn't be. What shocked me was they weren't using the time to plot a way out.

"What are they talking about, Clint?" Natasha asked me.

"She's asking him whether or not to trust us."

"Seriously? I would think they would be trying to free each other so they could make an attempt at a prison break."

"They're not. They're worried about each other."

"The Winter Soldier is worried about her?"

"He was upset when he noticed the hardware."

"Who knew he could care about something other than killing?"

"From what I'm getting, he came into her life after her mother died. I guess he's looked out for her since then."

"They're each other's vulnerabilities."

"We're not using them against each other."

"You know Steve is gonna wanna know how to…"

"Nat, I didn't tell you this. The speaker isn't on. I'm reading their lips. Officially, we have no intel. Please."

Nat looked at me and knew I was hiding something. She knew better than to push if I wasn't giving the information, so she nodded and let it go. I was grateful that over the years we got so close that we didn't need to give each other explanations, sometimes we just knew that the other needed something and gave it to them. This was one of those times.

About an hour later, Rogers came and told Nat and I to take Barnes and Sophie to their separate cells. Nat went to take Barnes back to where he was being held. I was bringing Sophie when I realized that Rogers was following us. When we got back into her cell, Sophie collapsed on the bed. The equipment to restrict her powers was taking a toll on her, she looked exhausted.

"We gave you what you asked for. Now are you going to cooperate with us or not?" Rogers asked, getting right to the point.

"Cap, she's exhausted…" I tried to stop him.

"She has to make a choice, Barton. We gave her what she wanted in good faith, now it's time to find out what kind of person she is."

Sophie looked up at him and I could tell she didn't like him. Somehow, she pulled enough strength together to get off the bed and come stand face-to-face with Rogers. It couldn't have been easy.

"Fine. One more condition and I'm yours for whatever."

"Sophie, you shouldn't agree to that," I blurted out.

Rogers glared at me. Then he turned back to her.

"What's your final condition?"

"Sergeant Barnes gets released from custody and not followed. You give him his freedom, completely. You do that and I'll let you run any tests you want, tell you anything you want, whatever. Just let him go first. And I want proof that he's actually free. So you'll have to give him a burn phone and a way to contact me in a few days. Once I know he's free, I'll do whatever you want."

"Done."

"Sophie, you don't want to do that!"

"I already did, Clint," she said to me sadly. "This is my fault. I was the one who did the things that had you guys coming for me. Bucky was trying to help keep me safe while I did it. I'm not going to let him pay for my choices."

"I'll make arrangements for Sergeant Barnes. We'll let you see him before he leaves, but I'll tell you now, he may not be the man I remember, Sophie, but he will be angry you bartered your freedom for his," Rogers said to Sophie before turning to me. "Let's go. We should let the team know what's going to happen."

I followed Rogers out of the room and my phone started ringing. He looked at me when I pulled it out of my jeans.

"It's Laura. I need to take this, Cap."

"Take it. I'll get the team up to speed. Come meet us after you talk to your wife, Barton. We need to talk after what happened in that cell."

I nodded at him and answered the call.

"Hey, Honey."

"Hi Clint. Is the news right? Have you caught the enhanced?"

"Yes."

"So you're coming home soon?"

"No. I can't."

"Why not? You said when you caught her you would be coming home. What's keeping you away now? You've been away from your kids for months!"

"Laura, you don't understand."

"What don't I understand, Clint?"

I closed my eyes and sighed. I had to tell her. I couldn't keep hiding it.

"The enhanced is my daughter."

"She's what?"

"My daughter. I met her mother when I was seventeen. I didn't know about her, but when we found intel on her, her mother was my ex. I thought she died when I was seventeen, but she lived until a year and a half ago… And was pregnant when I thought she died."

"And how do you know that she's your daughter, Clint?"

"I had Helen Cho run a paternity test on her when we got her back to the facility without telling anyone. She's mine, Laura."

"So you have a killer daughter."

"That's not fair, Laura. The only people she's killed are the people who ultimately killed her mother and are responsible for her being enhanced. They experimented on her mom when she was pregnant with her."

"You're defending a girl you barely know."

"Someone needs to. She needs someone to look out for what's best for her. And until I can figure out how to tell the team and get her safe, I can't leave her here."

Laura hung up on me again. I took a deep breath and made my way to the team where I just stayed in the background while Rogers finished his briefing. How was I going to tell them Sophie was my daughter?


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight:**

 **Sophie's POV:**

The following day Captain America came to my cell. He put manacles on me and led me back to the room I met Bucky in the day before. After securing the manacles to the table he left. He didn't speak to me. I didn't care. I was so exhausted from having my powers restricted my mind was a little foggy.

A few minutes later, Captain America came in with Bucky. He secured him to the other side of the table from me. Then he walked to the corner of the room. He had is vibranium shield with him.

"Bucky, Sophie has something to tell you," Captain America said.

I looked to the corner in shock. Nobody had told Bucky about the deal I made with them. I was going to face the full reaction.

"What is it, Sophie?" Bucky asked me in Russian. "Are you alright?"

"I've made a deal with the Avengers, Bucky," I replied in Russian. "They are letting you go, in exchange for my surrender and cooperation."

I could see the switch flip in Bucky. He was infuriated. The only reason he didn't break his manacles and throw the table was because I was shackled to it this time.

"You can't do that!" he exclaimed in Russian.

"It's done, Sergeant," I told him. "You're going to be released, with a burn phone to contact me in a few days to prove you've actually been released. Once I've confirmed that, I told them I'll cooperate with them. I'm not going to let you pay for what I did. Especially since you tried to stop me more than once."

"Sophie, you don't know what they can do to you!"

"I'll take my chances. I'm not let you pay the price. Thank you for guiding me, but you've done more than enough. Please, let me get you out of here."

 **Barton's POV:**

I was standing outside the room with Natasha, listening in to the conversation between Barnes and Sophie. Unlike Rogers, we both spoke Russian. Neither of us approved of the fact that he wouldn't let us be in the room.

"Why is Steve so mad at you?" Nat asked.

"I may have undermined him in front of the girl, tried to stop her from making this deal."

"Barton, you rebel," Stark said, as he joined us.

"Why would you do that?" Nat asked.

"She's seventeen. We all know that once she's part of S.H.I.E.L.D. they'll never let her go. She'll never have a real life."

"She could become one of us," Stark added.

 _Over my dead body_ , I thought to myself.

Steve motioned for Natasha to come into the room. I was still pissed off. He made it clear that until Barnes is cleared and she starts cooperating, I couldn't see her.

Nat and Steve spoke for a few minutes. She was telling Steve the basics of what Bucky and Sophie were saying. Satisfied they weren't plotting anything against us, he released them from the table so they could properly say good-bye to each other. Bucky hugged Sophie and part of me was jealous, but part of me was glad she had someone who obviously cared about her. Looking at her, I could see it was taking a lot out of her to do all of this. I turned to walk away, not able to watch the effects the equipment we used on her or saying good-bye to Bucky was having on her.

"Where are you going, Barton?" Stark asked me.

"There's nothing for me to do here. I'm not allowed to be around Sophie and I don't want to watch this. I'm going to the archery range."

"Are you okay, Clint? Everything okay with Laura?"

"Yeah, I'm great, Tony," I said sarcastically as I walked away.

 **Sophie's POV:**

I refused to cry, but the emotions and the physical toll of my new equipment were taking a lot out of me. I held Bucky tight, not knowing if or when I'd ever see him again. It killed me to let him go, especially with Captain America spying on the moment like a peeping tom.

"I'll miss you," I whispered into his ear in Russian before kissing his cheek.

"I'll miss you, too. You shouldn't have done this. I will find a way to see you again, Sophie."

"That's enough," Captain America cut into our moment. "Bucky, it's time to go. We have a Quinjet ready to take you anywhere you want to be dropped. You'll fly it and J.A.R.V.I.S. will bring it back. It will be in stealth mode so we won't be able to track it. In two days, you can contact her. We've supplied you with a burn phone with the number you'll be able to call her at already in it."

"Be strong, Sophie," Bucky told me in Russian as Captain America took him away.

"Be safe, Bucky," I replied.

And then he was gone. Black Widow was in the room with me. I sat back at the table. The door opened and Stark walked in. He came to look at the collar and wrist cuffs.

"You okay, Kid?" he asked.

"I'm fine. You all require I wear these and I've done it."

"Are they too tight?"

"No, they serve their purpose."

"I'd like run some tests…"

"No. The deal is I cooperate fully when I know Sergeant Barnes is actually free from here. Until I hear from him, there will be no tests, no questioning, nothing."

"Fine. I can wait," Stark said, but it was obvious he wasn't happy.

"Can I go back to my cell? I want to be alone."

"Come with me," Black Widow said.

She led me back to the cell and turned off the lights when I asked her to. After removing my manacles she left me. I curled up in my bed and cried. I had just gotten myself into the very situation my mother tried so hard to keep me out of all my life and sent away the only friend I had to keep him safe.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine:**

 **Barton's POV:**

It had been more than a week since Barnes had left and he had not made contact. J.A.R.V.I.S. had not brought the Quinjet back and couldn't track it because it was being kept in stealth mode. The worst part of all of this was Sophie. After four days, she stopped eating, stopped functioning, and wouldn't trust any of us. She swore we did something to Barnes, but Steve gave me his word that we did nothing to him. I believed him. Not only did the guy not lie, but he wanted to save Barnes from himself. He wouldn't hurt him.

Sophie had to have an I.V. put into her arm. It was the only way to keep her from dying. But it was hell to watch her. Knowing this was my daughter, my last tie to Anya, and knowing how much she hurt I wanted to comfort her. I didn't know if she would let me, but she looked like she was just giving up.

"Barton, what are you doing here? I was told that you were ordered to stay away from the girl," the last voice I expected to hear asked me.

I turned around and found Bruce Banner standing there, rolling up his sleeves. Apparently he got control of the Hulk and decided to come find us again.

"I'm not going near her. Just checking on her. I'm worried about her, Bruce. I knew her mother."

"Steve wouldn't like you using a technicality to skirt an order."

"I don't care. She's a kid."

"What's going on?"

"She's seventeen, Bruce. She's done some messed up shit, but who here hasn't? And she only did it to get at the people who made her the way she is, the people who ultimately killed her mother," I said, looking back at the room. "The people who were responsible for nearly killing me when I was her age."

"What?"

"These people who experimented on her mother, they nearly killed me in an attempt to get to her. I was trying to keep her safe. Bang up job I did," I said, dropping my head.

"You nearly died for her mother. You were a kid. You did everything you could."

"What are you doing here?"

"They're hoping that because she's never met me, she'll let me check on her."

"Just be careful. She's hot-tempered when she's pissed off. She's pretty much given up on life, but she's holding on to the fact that she doesn't want us testing or questioning her until she hears from the Winter Soldier. Please don't turn green on her."

"I'll be careful, Clint. You should go before Steve comes around to see how I'm doing with her."

I nodded at him and walked away, miserable. Laura was threatening to divorce me. She wanted me to pick between Sophie and my other kids. Sophie was giving up. My life was in shambles. I went to the archery range and started shooting.

 _Eighteen Years Ago:_

" _Come on, Clint. Show me!" Anya begged._

 _We had been dating for a little over a month. She wanted to know about my past. I had told her about it, but now she wanted to see pictures. We were at my place. I sighed, giving her the book that my former mentor gave me, the book chronicling my growth through the trade. My past in the carnival into the circus._

 _I walked out of the room and got myself a soda. I downed it, giving her time to flip through the book. When I went back to the room I brought sodas for both of us. She was finishing with the book and put it down, looking at me differently._

" _This is how you learned everything you did?" she asked me in awe._

 _I nodded._

" _I learned everything growing up there."_

" _So you went from being a carnie to a hero?"_

 _I was uncomfortable being called a hero, so I just nodded. She pulled me close to her and started kissing me deeply._

" _Does the fact that I grew up in a freak show turn you on, Anya?" I asked only half joking._

" _No, I'm turned on by how strong you are to do everything you've done to survive, Clinton Francis Barton. You are an amazing man and I, I… I love you," she said to me, kissing me again._

 _My entire body grew warm from those three words. I didn't think I could love anyone, yet this beautiful genius loved me. I realized then, I loved her too."_

" _I love you too, Anya. And I never thought I would be able to love someone like this. But you… You just kinda crept in and stole my heart."_

 _Before I knew it, the kissing went to clothes being thrown on the floor. She was lying on my bed, completely naked, beautiful, and I loved her so much. She pulled me down to her and we started kissing again. Soon, I was inside of her and it felt incredible. I felt like I was home, like we were meant for each other._

 _I don't know how long we went at it. When we finally came, I put my elbows on either side of her, so I wouldn't put the weight of my body completely on her. I kissed her and brushed her hair off her sweaty brow. Even sweaty and out of breath, Anya was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen._

" _I may not be able to give you everything in the world, Anya, but I want to give you everything I am," I said to her._

" _That is everything in the world to me, Clint."_

 _I rolled off of her and we spooned as we fell into a happy sleep._

 **Present:**

It had been nearly two weeks at this point since we'd release Barnes and we still hadn't heard from him. Sophie was barely tolerating Bruce checking on her. I'd had enough. I had to do something. When Steve was on one of his morning runs, I went in to check on her.

 **Sophie's POV:**

"Clint?" I asked in disbelief. "I thought you went back to retirement. I haven't seen you since I made my deal."

"I've been here the whole time, Sophie. I was ordered to stay away from you because I tried to talk you out of it and for kicking Captain Rogers out before that. They thought I was hindering their progress with you."

"So why are you here now?"

"Steve's not here right now and I don't care about orders. I need to know that you're okay."

"Why do you care?"

"You know why."

"Then why did you let them keep you away?"

He went silent. He knew I was right and he had no answer for me. I was still weak, but I was angry.

"I was trying to follow orders, but I kept an eye on you from a distance."

"Just go away, Clint. I want to be left alone," I said rolling onto my side and looking away from him.

I could hear him sigh.

"Fine. I'll go. But I'll make this up to you, Sophie. I won't let them turn you into some experiment. I promise."

I heard him walk out the door and had a lot to think about. Would he keep his word?

 **Barton's POV:**

Sophie had every reason to be mad at me. I had let her down. I was furious with myself. Going to one of the control rooms, I started going through some of the files on the computer until I found what I was looking for. I wrote it down and went back to my quarters, where I dialed the number.

"What?" he snarled in Russian.

"Listen Barnes, this is Clint Barton. We need to talk about Sophie Holden," I replied in Russian before he could hang up.

There was silence for a minute before he spoke again.

"So speak," he said, switching to English.

"She's giving up on everything. I don't know what you've been doing for the last two weeks since we let you go as part of her deal and I don't care. But you were supposed to check in with her two days after you left here. When you didn't by the fourth day she decided we did something to you and she's stopped eating. She's hooked to an I.V.

"I know what was said between the two of you the two times we let you see each other before you were released. I know you care about her and were looking out for her. But now I need your help to help her. She won't let any of us do anything for her. We're barely allowed to monitor her vitals. Please, just check in with her and convince her to start eating and take care of herself."

"And then you'll turn her into a lab rat?"

"No. I'm not going to let them turn her into a lab rat. I promise you that."

"And I should take the word of a spy?"

"No, you should take the word of her father."

"What? Nobody knows who Sophie's father is. Why do you think it's you?"

"I dated her mother, the timing was right, so I had a paternity test run without anyone knowing when we brought both of you in. Only you, Helen Cho, and my wife know that she is my daughter. I'm trying to keep it from coming out until the right time so they don't kick me off of this completely. It's the only way to protect her right now. But once she's taking care of herself again, I will make sure they do not keep her locked up in that cell as a lab rat like Anya was. I failed her mother. I won't fail her, but I need your help, Barnes. If you care about her, like I saw you do, please, help me help my daughter."

He was silent for a few minutes.

"I'll keep your secret so you can protect her. And I will check in later today."

"Thank you. Keep hold of this number. It's mine. When I get her out, you can reach her on it."

"Alright."

He hung up and some of the weight on my chest lifted.

 **Sophie's POV:**

When Clint came back into my room I was ready to yell at him to go away. Before I could say anything he stopped me.

"You want me in here. I have something for you," he said handing me a phone.

I looked at the phone and there was a video call in progress. It was Bucky!

"Bucky! You're alright!" I exclaimed in Russian.

"Yes, but you're not. You look sick. What's going on with you, Sophie?" he asked, keeping the conversation in Russian.

I didn't say anything to him.

"Have you been eating, Sophie?"

"No. I didn't trust them. I thought they hurt you."

"So you wouldn't eat."

"I wouldn't take anything from them. I didn't care what happened to me. I had nothing left without you."

"Sophie, you're stronger than that. Promise me you will never do that again."

I sighed. If I said the words, he'd make sure I held to them.

"I promise. But you have to promise if you say you'll check in you'll do it! It's been two weeks!"

"I promise, Sophie. I'm sorry I was so delayed, but I was doing something very important."

"What was it?"

"They're dealt with. All of them."

He couldn't mean… Could he?

"You finished?"

"Yes. I'm going off the grid for a few weeks, but I'll find a way to get in touch with you soon. Take care of yourself until then, Sophie. Promise me."

"I promise, Bucky."

"I'll talk to you then."

"I love you, Bucky. Bye."

Bucky ended the video call and I looked at Clint. I gave him the phone and threw my arms around him.

"Thank you, Clint!"

He looked more serious.

"What's the matter, Clint?"

"He just told you he killed the rest of the scientists, didn't he?"

"You speak Russian?"

"I speak several languages, Sophie. I'm a spy."

"Are you going to tell them?"

"No," he said putting a gym bag on my bed before taking my hand and taking the I.V. out of my hand. "Get dressed. We're going out."

"They're going to let you take me."

"I'm not asking them. We need to talk. And not here."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten:**

 **Barton's POV:**

I drove Sophie to a restaurant about an hour from the Avengers' facility. Before we went in, I used the key to the collar and wrist cuffs to take them off. She looked at me in shock.

"I'm trusting you. You said that the only you were doing what you were doing was to make the people who were responsible for you and your mom pay. They've paid. I'm trusting that you won't go off the handle in here."

"I promise, Clint. I just don't understand why you're risking so much for me."

"We'll talk inside."

I grabbed what looked like a duffle and a brief case and we went inside. After we were seated and ordered, Sophie started looking at me expectantly, but first I handed her an ointment.

"Take this into the bathroom. Rub it into where you had the collar and wrist cuffs on. It will soothe the skin and help heal the skin."

She nodded and walked away, giving me a few more minutes to figure out how to tell her something that would rock her world.

While I was thinking, my phone started ringing. It was Natasha. I picked up.

"Clint, what have you done? Steve, Fury, and Stark are furious right now."

"I'm going to bring her back. I promise. I just needed to talk to her, where they couldn't monitor it, before they could sink their talons into her now that she heard from Barnes. A few hours, that's all I need. This is important."

"You're not running off to let her go?"

"No, I'll bring her back, but not until I've had a chance to talk to her. We're just out to dinner. After we've eaten and talked, I'll bring her back, and trust me, Steve, Fury, and Stark will have words with me, but not the ones they think."

"Alright. I'll tell them you'll have her back in a few hours."

"Thanks, Nat."

"I trust you, Clint. You know I'd do almost anything for you."

"I know. I gotta go. She's coming back from the bathroom."

"See you soon."

Sophie sat back down at the booth we were sitting in and already her neck and wrists looked visibly better. I was relieved. I turned off my phone and put it in my pocket.

"Who was that?" Sophie asked, looked concerned.

"Black Widow, Natasha, telling me I'm in trouble for taking you."

"Are we going back now?"

"Not until we've talked. She's gonna keep the rest of them off of us until we get back."

"Why would she do that?"

"Because Natasha and I are closer than any of the other Avengers. When they sent me to kill her I chose not to."

"So you have a habit of telling them to fuck off, don't you?"

"If I don't agree with them, yeah," I said laughing.

"Good to know," she said smiling. "But what do we need to talk about?"

I put my hand up. The waitress was bringing our order. When she left, Sophie started eating and not only was I relieved, but I was happy that the last two weeks hadn't left her anorexic.

"I needed to talk to you about your mother, Sophie. And my past with her."

I started picking at my own food.

 **Sophie's POV:**

"I don't talk to anyone about Mom except Bucky, but because you know… _knew_ her, I'll make an exception," I said as I slowed down how I was eating.

"I told you that for six months I protected your mother until I nearly died when she was kidnapped."

I nodded at him.

"There was more to our history, more than even I knew, but it's something you need to know."

"What is it, Clint?"

He put his french fry down. He looked at me, taking off his sunglasses for the first time since I'd met him, looking me in the eyes. His eyes were familiar, but my mind either couldn't or wouldn't place why.

"Sophie, your mother and I were together. For nearly four months when she was kidnapped, we had been a couple, and I loved her with everything I had. She made me realize that I _could_ love anyone like that. When I thought I lost her all those years ago, I had hoped that my injuries were severe enough that I would die. I didn't want to live without her. She was that special to me," he said, looking at me, but not seeing me at this point. "I think, if I hadn't lost her, I would have asked her to marry me one day."

I put down my burger at this point. He loved my mother? Was that why it was so important to protect me?

"It's not your fault that this happened to Mom and me, Clint. I don't think she would have blamed you," I tried to lamely comfort him.

"There's more."

"More than you confessing a deep love for Mom to me?"

He nodded at me.

"Your mother knew me better than anyone else in the world ever had or has. She was one of the few who knew my full name."

"So?"

"My full name is Clinton _Francis_ Barton, Sophie. Same middle name as you."

"Maybe she gave me that name because she missed you?"

I knew I was grasping at straws, but I was nervous to consider the other possibility.

"I don't believe in coincidences, Sophie. I had Helen Cho run a DNA test on you when you were brought in to the Avengers' facility, on both of us," he said, stopping as if he didn't know how to go on.

"Clint, are you my father?"

"Yes. I found out when I got that text while I was with you that first day. Nobody in the facility knows except Helen Cho. Barnes knows, too."

"Bucky? How?"

"I got worried about you, and you wouldn't listen to anyone, so I finally tracked the info on the burn phone we gave him and called him this morning after I talked to you. I told him the truth, all of it, and asked him to help me get you to take care of yourself. I was worried about you."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner? Why didn't you tell your team?" I asked, getting angry.

"I had to wait until the right time. You made your deal with Steve, which I tried to stop you from making. At that point, they banned me from seeing you. If it came out I was your father at that point, they would have taken me off your case, sent me home. I couldn't have that because I can't protect you from there. So I did my best to keep an eye on you from a distance, and once Barnes got in touch with you, I knew it was time to tell you. They're going to expect you to hold up your end of the deal now. I'm not going to let you be turned into an experiment. So I needed to tell you because when we go back, I'm telling them things are going to change. You'll move into my quarters with me and you can answer their questions, but I'd recommend you not tell them about what Barnes told you he did. Any tests they want to run are going to be cleared by me."

"So you've been quietly planning how to get me out of my deal since I made it?"

"Yes. I loved your mother, Sophie, and I had no idea she was pregnant when I lost her. I didn't know about you until I was brought in on this mission. Even before I knew you were mine, I was determined not to let them kill you, but when I found that picture you left at the safehouse… It started bringing back memories of your Mom. How happy I was with Anya, and I knew that even though there was a possibility you were mine, whether or not you were, I was going to take care of you."

I didn't know what to say to him. I couldn't be mad at him for not being there all these years. He had no idea I existed, let alone that I was his. And he nearly died more than once to protect my mom. Not to mention he kept blowing off orders to try to help me.

"I don't know what to do with all of this yet. I can't be mad at you for not being there. You didn't know. But I need time to get used to this. Give me time to adjust and I'll give you a chance. Is that a fair deal?"

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"More than fair. I was worried you'd tell me to go to hell or worse. This is fair."

"I can't call you Dad or anything like that. I don't know you well enough."

"I understand."

"So tell me more about you, Clint. We can talk more about me later," I said going back to my burger.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven:**

 **Barton's POV:**

When we got back to the Avengers' facility, Sophie looked at me expectantly. Her power restraints were in a back in the back seat behind her. I shook my head.

"I'm telling them the truth about you, and I'm not letting them make you wear those things anymore. I saw how badly they affected you."

"Thanks, Clint. I wouldn't say anything, but they left me feeling fuzzy in the head and really weak all the time. So when I stopped eating it got a million times worse."

"No more of that, though, okay? The eating? If you have an issue, talk to me, don't just stop eating. I want to help you."

"I already promised Bucky and you know it, so I guess it won't hurt if I promise you, too." 

We got out of the car, I grabbed the bag with her restraints and turned her to look at me.

"Whatever happens, stay either at my side or right behind me. And don't say anything. This might get ugly. Let me handle this."

Sophie nodded and we made our way to the control room, where all of the Avengers plus Fury, Coulson and his S.H.I.E.L.D. team were waiting for us. I stayed on the opposite side of the room from them, and pushed Sophie behind me. She offered no resistance to it.

"What in the world did you think you were doing, Barton?" Steve demanded.

"Better yet, who in the hell did you think you were to take this enhanced out of here without authorization?" Fury demanded.

"First, her name is _Sophie Francis Holden_. And I took her because I needed to talk to her where we wouldn't be listened to non-stop. Second, who am I to do this?" I paused at this point, gathering my strength to continue. Sophie squeezed my hand and I said what I needed to. "I am her _father_ so things around here are going to change with how she's been treated. She will no longer be wearing these restraints or living in the cell. She stays with me and any testing gets my approval."

"She made a deal," Steve said.

"She's a minor who made the deal without the consent of a parent or guardian. Technically, that deal means nothing."

"You knew when she made the deal, didn't you, Legolas?"

"Yes. I've known since we brought her back here, and I've kept it from all of you to be kept on the case and protect her."

"How do we know you're not lying?" asked May. "It's what you were trained to do, and she wouldn't be the first that you broke protocol to protect."

"Helen Cho ran a paternity test the day we brought her and Barnes in. The sample she tested it was simply labeled 'Y'. Go ahead and check that sample versus one of my DNA samples. Or you could just ask Helen who the sample was from."

"You played us, Barton," Fury said.

"I had to. If you knew she was my daughter you would have kicked me off the case and sent me home. She needs me. I did it for her and for her mother."

By this point, Natasha, who had slipped away from all of this, returned with Helen Cho. Steve turned his attention to her.

"Doctor Cho, did you run a paternity test on Agent Barton against the DNA of the enhanced when we brought her in on his request?"

"Yes, Captain."

"And the results?" Steve asked.

"Positive. Agent Barton is Ms. Holden's biological father."

"And you withheld this information on what grounds?"

"Agent Barton's request, Sir. Am I in trouble?"

"No," he said, defeated. "You were following orders. You're not in trouble. You can go back to what you were doing. Thank you, Doctor Cho."

Helen hurried from the room.

"Any other questions?"

"What did you take her off the grounds to discuss?" Stark asked.

"Exactly what I just told you. That I was her father and that I was going to make things around here change for her. It wasn't something I felt should be done with a building full of spies to listen in. We went out for dinner, discussed it, took the time to get to know each other a bit, set our boundaries, and then came back here. As I told Natasha, I would bring her back."

"Barton, you know you can't take her back home with you yet, don't you?" asked Coulson.

"I'm not planning on leaving here with her yet. You wanted to question her, and I'll allow it. You can debrief her, but testing needs to be approved by me," I replied, before softening to Coulson. "I'm not trying to be the bad guy here, Coulson. You know me. But Sophie is seventeen and my _daughter_. I don't want her treated like a science project and I don't want it forgotten that she is a teenager who did what she did while in extreme emotional distress after losing her mother. She's not some hardened lifelong criminal."

"Alright, Clint," Coulson said. "Why don't you and her go pack your things and we'll move the two of you into bigger quarters? Call me and I'll come show you where you're moving when you're ready to go."

"Thanks, Phil," I said, walking away with Sophie at my side.

On my way out of the room, I dropped the bag with the power restraints in them. Then we walked back to her cell. Taking the few things she had there, I took her to storage where we had the rest of the things we had collected that belonged to her from the safehouse. Reaching into one of the boxes, I pulled out a framed picture of her and her mother from when she was a little girl.

"I thought you'd want this one taken extra care of," I said, handing the frame to her.

She looked at the frame and a few tears silently slipped from her eyes. I pulled her closer to me. She let me hold her as she looked at the picture, and I looked at it with her. Her mother looked so much different from when I had seen her, but her eyes were lit up with happiness with Sophie in her arms.

"Thanks, Clint."

"For what?"

"Standing up for me. Other than Mom and Bucky, nobody has ever done that for me in my life."

"Get used to it, Sophie."

We grabbed the last of her things from storage and went to my quarters. I didn't have a ton of stuff so it didn't take long to pack.

 **Sophie's POV:**

Clint's quarters were meticulous. There weren't a lot of things in there, but there were pictures. I started looking at them.

"Are these my siblings and your wife?" I asked him.

He stopped packing.

"Yeah, Sophie, they are. Laura is my wife, Cooper is your brother, Lila is your little sister, and Nathaniel Pietro is your baby brother," he said sadly.

"What's wrong, Clint?"

"Laura is trying to make me choose between you and all of them."

"Then go home," I said, feeling bad for him.

"No. It's wrong of her to make me choose. Yes, you've made mistakes, but you're not a bad kid, Sophie. I'm not going to turn my back on you. They're safe. Almost nobody knows where my farmhouse is. You need me. I'll work things out with Laura one way or the other."

"I don't want to break up your family, Clint."

"You _are_ my family, Sophie."

"You've known me for like ten minutes. I know what it's like not to have a father and I don't want to do that to Cooper, Lila, or Nathaniel. It wouldn't be right."

"I'll work something out. I promise. I'll be in their lives as much as I can, but I'm not abandoning you, either."

He was serious about helping take care of me.

"Fine. I won't push it. Just don't abandon those three kids who call you Dad because of me. Promise?"

"Sophie, I'm not that guy. Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel will always have me, especially when they need me. So I promise," he said as he hugged me.

I felt a little better, but I wouldn't feel completely better about it until he kept the promise.

"So, what kinds of tests _are_ you gonna let them do on me?"

"They can test to see how your genetics have been changed because of your situation and see what your enhancements are. Other than that, I need to know where you should be in school."

"Clint, my IQ is over 180. I don't need to be in school. I can tell you that. But I'll take any academic test you want, but don't be surprised if I outwit Stark," I told him. "Will you let them test my powers to see how they work?"

"No. You can show them you can control them, but I will not let them test to see how they work."

"Will you train with me on the range while I'm here?"

"You want to?"

"Why not? Apparently I'm the daughter of the top Archer in the world. It would be interesting to see how I measure up to the legacy, don't you think?"

He smiled at me. We finished packing and he called Coulson. A few minutes later, Coulson showed up to meet us.

"Phil, this is Sophie," Clint said.

"Hi, Sophie. Nice to meet the legacy of Hawkeye," Coulson said to me.

"Hi Phil, it's nice to meet you, too. And I'm sorry about the incident with your team. I was just trying to get out of there. I didn't want to hurt any of them and if I did, I'm sorry," I replied, shaking his hand.

"Well, your shot is as good as your father's. Those warning shots didn't hit any of them. And the other injuries were easily dealt with. I appreciate that you're sorry that you did it. How long have you been shooting?"

"For as long as I can remember. My mom always told me I'd be a natural. When I was able to, I got my hand on a bow and arrow and she was right. It was how I escaped when I was ten. I've been on my own since. As I got older I found that my aim was just as good with guns. I guess it's genetic."

"Interesting. And your combat skills?" Coulson asked.

"Being a ten year old on your own, you need to know how to defend yourself. I found ways of learning, training. Sometimes, by tutoring or exchanging archery lessons in exchange for different types of martial arts training. I picked it up very quickly. I was very agile and quick on my feet."

Coulson looked at Clint and I saw a slight shake of his head. Clint was getting upset.

"What is it?" I asked.

"That's enough, Coulson."

"Fine. Here are your new quarters. I hope all of this works out for both of you. Nice meeting you under better circumstances, Sophie," Phil said and left.

 **Barton's POV:**

I couldn't believe Coulson. He was trying to gauge whether or not Sophie was a candidate for recruitment. They all knew I wouldn't leave her alone, but they knew I was planning on going back into retirement when this mission was done, so was this their new plan? Wait until she was eighteen and recruit her to take over, my "legacy"?

"What's wrong, Clint? You're worrying me," Sophie said, bringing me out of my head.

"Coulson's questions. They had a secondary motive, not just getting to know you, Sophie."

"What do you think he was doing?"

"I think he was trying to see if you could be recruited when you turn eighteen."

"What's wrong with that?"

"You'll never have a normal life. You'll spend your life looking over your shoulder to make sure nobody finds out who you really are or comes to kill you. My life isn't a safe one. That's why my farmhouse isn't even on S.H.I.E.L.D. files. It was the only way to keep Laura and the kids safe."

"I've never had a normal life anyway, Clint. Maybe me joining this team is a way to make up for the bad things I've done. I'll be with the people you trust and you'd be able to go home to Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel."

"And worry non-stop the daughter I just found will be killed in action? It's not that easy for me, Sophie."

"Well, we have a few months before I turn eighteen to work things out. Let's not fight about this now. We were getting along so well," she said, but I could tell this was far from over, which worried me more. "Do you want to head to the archery range?"

We put our duffle bags down and I nodded.

"Let's go. I'll show you how it's done," I grinned at her, trying not to let my anxiety show.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve:**

 **Barton's POV:**

Things were going well with Sophie and me over the next six weeks. I got to know her pretty well when I was at the Avengers' facility. If I wasn't there, I was at home with Laura, Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel, trying to work things out. I had been gone for a week when I returned to find Sophie very upset.

"What's wrong, Sophie?" I asked her.

"Bucky hasn't gotten in touch, Clint," she said to me in Russian, a habit I noticed she used when she was upset or hiding something.

"I'm sure he's fine."

"No. He promised me he'd be in touch and would only be off the grid for a few weeks. It's been nearly two months since I spoke to him. He promised he wouldn't do this again."

"Maybe he's taken an assignment?"

"Clint, he's the only family I had after Mom died until I found out about you. I don't know what I would do if something happened to him."

"I'll talk to Natasha. See what strings she can pull to find a location on him. Would that make you feel better?"

She nodded at me and hugged me.

"Thank you, Clint," she said, finally speaking English again.

"Don't thank me, Sophie. I'm your father and I'm trying to help. You don't have to thank me."

I led her out of our quarters to find Natasha. We found her training Wanda and Sam. When she saw us come in, she told them to spar each other, reminding Sam that she wasn't as advanced in combat and Wanda not to use her power on him. She came over to us drinking from a water bottle.

"What's going on?"

"Natasha I need a favor."

"What is it?"

"Bucky still hasn't checked in. He told me six weeks ago that he was going off the grid a few weeks. He promised after he disappeared for the two weeks that he wouldn't do it again, and he hasn't checked in for nearly two months. He promised me that he would. I'm worried," Sophie explained.

"Can you use some of your contacts to see if maybe he took an assignment somewhere? See if there is anything we need to worry about before we decide what to do next?"

"Sure. I'll be done in here in about an hour. I'll see what I can do then," Nat said to me before looking at Sophie. "I take it that this is why you blew this off?"

She nodded at her.

"Don't make it a habit," Natasha said before turning to me. "Can you take her and train her for the day?"

"Sure," I said, covering the fact I had no idea what she was talking about.

Natasha walked away and I left with Sophie. When we were halfway down the hallway I decided I wanted answers.

 **Sophie's POV:**

"Sophie, what was she talking about, training you today?" Clint asked me.

"I started training with the Avengers while you went home to Iowa," I replied.

He glared at me. I knew he would be mad. He still didn't like the idea of me joining the team when I was eighteen.

"Why would you do that? I thought we agreed that we wouldn't decide anything right now."

"I didn't technically decide anything. But if I'm going to be here all the time, I might as well do _something_ other than sit around our quarters. So I've been learning the ropes."

"Why didn't anyone ask me?"

"I told them you left it up to me."

"You lied to them."

"Kinda. I didn't know how you'd react to it, but even with the online classes I'm taking and the work I do with Stark I get bored. I needed to do more."

"Have you had any incidents with your powers?"

"No. I have control over them. It's just today, I knew you were coming back again and I was going to try to surprise you because my grades came in from the most recent block of classes I've been taking but then I realized how long it's been since I talked to Bucky because I wanted to tell him. He's like my big brother and I love him, Clint."

"There was nothing going on with you two was there?"

"Ew, no," I replied. "When I met him he scared the hell out of me. But when I realized he was trying to help keep me safe I started looking at him like a big brother. He's my family. That is the _only_ way I love Bucky, Clint. Don't worry about that. But that's why I wanted to show him my transcript as much as I wanted to show you and it made me realize how long it's been since he's been gone."

Clint hugged me to him.

"Okay. Well, Natasha's going to put feelers out for him. And in the meantime, let's go back to our quarters so you can show me that transcript. I've got some stuff for you, too from Cooper and Lila."

We walked back to our quarters and he went to his bags while I booted up the computer and signed onto the website for my school. When I logged in, I went to my transcript. I got up to let him sit at the computer and he handed me two wrapped presents.

"What are these?"

"From Cooper and Lila. They wanted me to give them to you," he told me.

This was Clint's third trip to Iowa since I found out he was my father. He was doing an every other week thing for the time being. He told me before he left for this trip that he told Laura he was going to tell my siblings about me. He even took some pictures of me around the Avengers' facility since he told me the truth that he printed up to bring home and show them.

I sat down on the couch and opened the thinner of the two presents. There were a bunch of drawings and paintings with Lila's name on them. There was also a card welcoming me to the family and saying she couldn't wait to meet her big sister. They made me smile. I opened the second present. It was a bigger box. I opened the box and found a stuffed hawk and a photo album along with the card. The card was from Cooper, telling me that even though I was older and from a different mom, he'd always be there for me because that's what brothers do. I flipped through the photo album and saw that it was a collection of pictures of all three of my siblings at different ages with Clint.

A few tears slipped from my eyes. I had missed out on so much growing up because Clint didn't know about me. Not only that, Cooper's words to me made me miss and worry about Bucky. I loved that these two siblings were accepting me so openly and easily, but I didn't even know what they knew about me, my past, or why I was where I am.

Clint got up from the computer with a huge smile on his face. I plastered a smile on mine, that was only partially fake. He hugged me.

"I am so proud of you, Sophie. A 4.0 G.P.A. is amazing," he said as he kissed the top of my head. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm not used to getting gifts. And I can't believe Lila and Cooper are accepting me so easily," I said, wiping the tears from my face.

"Lila is actually beyond excited. She's always wanted a sister. And Cooper is a family guy."

"What do you mean?"

"He knows what it means to have family, so he would never abandon his family."

"Like his father."

Clint hugged me again.

"I guess so."

"So how much did you tell them?"

"Most of it. They don't know about the killing yet. Laura does. It was why she threatened to divorce me."

"I'm sorry, Clint."

"Don't be. In your situation I would have done the same thing."

"I still put you in a bad situation with your wife."

"You didn't ask to be born, Sophie. You didn't ask for any of this."

 **Barton's POV:**

I pulled Sophie into a tight hug. She really was a good kid now that everyone who was a threat to her had been neutralized.

"Cooper gave me a stuffed hawk," she said laughing.

I was shocked. He'd had that thing since he was a baby. He wouldn't even let Lila or Nathaniel touch it.

"You should be honored."

"Why?"

"Because that really means he's welcoming you to the family. He's had that since he was a baby. He's never let anyone else play with it. I think this is his way of saying you're more important."

She looked back to the stuffed hawk on the couch with awe. She turned back to me, looking confused.

"But why?"

"I told you, you're his sister and he knows pretty much everything except about the murders. He probably feels that with how rough you've had it on your own you needed proof that there are people who care about you."

"He's never met me."

"You're his sister. That's enough of a reason for him to care about you. It's just how he is, Sophie."

"I really missed out growing up with you, didn't I, Clint? Cooper and Lila are so sweet, innocent and compassionate. Everything I'm not," she said looking at the floor.

"Hey don't think like that. You did what you had to," I said to her, pulling her face to look me in my eyes, our matching eyes. "How about we go do that training and get your mind off of things for a bit?"

"You're not mad at me for this?"

"I'm not happy you lied, but I guess learning the ropes can't hurt if you're here. But I still want to talk about whether or not you should really get involved with this when you turn eighteen before you agree to anything. Deal?"

"Good enough."

I led her to one of the training rooms after we both changed into looser clothes. We started sparring and I realized she was good. She quickly picked up cues that told her what I would do and adapted to my style. After a while, Steve came into the room.

"Sorry, Barton. I didn't even know you were back yet."

"You wanna spar?" Sophie asked him.

"I don't think you're ready for me, Sophie."

"Actually, Cap, I could use a break. Could you?"

"Are you sure, Clint? She could get hurt."

"Remember, she's enhanced, heals quickly. Go ahead," I said to him and winked at Sophie when he turned away from me to walk to her.

Sophie proved my theory right. As I stood and watched, drinking water, she picked up on Steve's fighting cues and adapted to his fighting styles. Ten minutes in, Stark came in, looking for all of us and got distracted.

"You let your daughter spar with the super soldier, Barton?" he asked me.

"Watch them carefully, Tony," I said to him.

He turned and watched them with me.

"Is she really adapting to his fighting styles as he changes them?"

"Yes. I noticed she did it to me, but I thought it might've been because I'm her father. It's not just me."

"Interesting."

Ultimately, twenty minutes later, Sophie lost the match to Steve. The two of them had barely broken a sweat. He reached a hand out to help her to her feet and she took it.

"You're good. Better than I thought you would be, Sophie. That was a good match. Try again sometime?" Steve asked her with genuine respect for her in his voice.

"Sure, Cap. Sounds like fun."

Sophie walked over to me and took my water bottle. The one bruise that had started to form started to heal in front of my eyes. Suddenly Tony seemed to remember why he was there.

"Shit! I forgot. Natasha sent me in here to get you guys. She said something about intel on Barnes."

Sophie and I grabbed our things and ran out of the room to the control room.

 **Sophie's POV:**

I got to the control just before Clint did. I dropped my training bag near the door and went right to the computer Natasha was at. Clint followed suit. Rogers and Stark got there a minute or two after us.

"What's going on, Natasha?" Clint asked.

"I've been making some calls. Barnes went missing in Belarus about a week ago."

Clint got very serious suddenly.

"You don't think…"

"What does that mean, Natasha?"

"Steve, the Winter Soldier was one of the teachers at the Red Room… which was located in the forests of Belarus."

"So you're saying someone from the Red Room kidnapped him?" I asked, getting scared.

"No. The Red Room program is dead. But Bucky was their first graduate. It's why they kept taking him out of cryostasis to train students. They are the ones who implanted programs in his mind to help keep him from fully remembering who he really is. Someone who knows all of this is trying to lure at least me back there."

"Why you, Natasha?" I asked her.

"Because he helped train me, Sophie."

"You're not going alone. We go as a team."

"No!" I exclaimed.

"What are you doing, Sophie?" Clint asked.

"If they realize the Avengers are coming they might wipe his mind completely. He'll forget all of us, including me. We're not risking that."

"So what do you suggest, Kid?" Stark asked.

"Let me come with you guys…"

"No," Clint cut me off.

"Hear me out, Clint. Then you guys can decide."

I could tell he was pissed off but he backed off.

"As a team, we fly to a neighboring country. Lithuania, Latvia, or Poland would be the best choices politically. But when we get there, let me and Natasha go in alone. I can get us in with my fire portals."

"And what about if you guys run into trouble?" Clint demanded.

"We go in armed, and we can fight physically if we need to, but once we get to Bucky I'll use the fire portal to get us the hell out of there."

"I don't like it," Clint said.

"Her plan can work," Natasha said, earning a glare from Clint. "Can you control the portals, Sophie?"

I nodded.

"Have you ever brought anyone else with you?"

"Yeah."

"This might be the best plan. She's right, if we all go trying to bust in there we may not be able to get to Bucky before they wipe his mind."

"NAT!" Clint exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, Clint. This is as important to her as it is to me and Steve. We can't leave him there. And if she can reduce the possibility that we'll run into a confrontation, I think she's ready to try."

"Steve, back me up, please," Clint asked, desperately.

"I don't like it because she's still underage, Natasha. Clint should have the final say," Steve said before turning back to Clint. "But Sophie held her own with me for what, half an hour? Not many people can spar with me like that for that long, Clint. She's a tough girl, but I respect that you're her father."

Clint looked relieved. I knew then if he said no they were going to risk Bucky to keep me safe. I grabbed him and pulled him into the hallway away from everyone else.

"What are you doing, Clint?"

"I'm protecting you."

"What did you tell me about family back in our quarters?"

His head dropped.

"I told you that family doesn't abandon family."

"Bucky _is_ my family. You're my father, and I'm really liking getting to know you, but _he_ was there when I lost Mom. And I don't blame you for that. Really, I don't. But I can't abandon him now. Please, don't make me."

He pulled me into a hug and kissed my head. Then he pulled me back into the room.

"We leave for Europe in half an hour. Everyone get what you need and meet us in the Quinjet. We're going with Sophie's plan. I need to get her ready for her first mission."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen:**

 **Barton's POV:**

"I want to see if you can use my bow," I said, pulling Sophie into the archery range.

"Is that important right now, Clint?"

"If you're going on this mission with us. Yes, it is."

I handed her my bow and placed a quiver of arrows near her. She knocked an arrow and let it fly. It was effortless. Most people couldn't use my bow because the draw weight was so high. I looked down to the target and saw it was a bullseye shot. The kid had my talent with the bow, I knew, but she had my control and accuracy even with my bow.

"You're taking my bow and quiver of arrows with you when we split up," I told her.

"What about you?"

"I'm going to stay with the Quinjet if needed. I can fly it while the others go in after you two if you need the backup. My bow is special, Sophie, and that's why I brought you here to test if you could use it. The draw weight is 250 pounds. Most people can't draw the bowstring back or control it when they do. You can. The draw weight makes my bow more powerful than the bow you carry. Plus, I have specialized arrowheads that are controlled by my bow. I'll teach you how the program works on the Quinjet on the way to Europe."

She hugged me.

"Thank you, Clint. For trusting me with your weapon, and for understanding why I need to do this."

"Come on, let's get you battle ready. We need to find you something to wear," I said.

"Don't worry about that, Legolas," Stark said from the door to the range. "I've got Legolas Junior here covered."

"What are you talking about, Tony?" I asked him.

"Follow me," he said as he turned around and led us out and to the room where our mission gear and equipment was stored. "I figured just in case she ever did decide to join us I'd get her covered."

He pressed a button and there was a suit, with the Avengers logo on the shoulders of the jacket. It was a deep purple, it had a jacket similar to mine, but it was shorter, and the outfit itself was like Natasha's but deep purple and sleeveless. It had plenty of holsters for guns and knives since she'd proven to be adept with all of them. Her boots were like mine, and included a compartment to hold the cartridges I used for multiple arrows. I looked at Tony.

"When did you do this?"

"Last time you went back to Laura and the kids. Sophie didn't know. I didn't get a chance to make her her own bow and arrow set like what you have, but if she decides to stay with us, I'll make sure she has one."

"Can it withstand her fire abilities?"

"Yes, the material is lightweight, flame retardant, and in general, just kickass. The material will also absorb force to a certain degree, minimalizing the impact of anything that hits her, a hand or an object."

"Thank you, Stark," Sophie exclaimed, hugging him. "I love it."

"Then suit up. We've got a long way to go," he said pushing a button and giving her the uniform.

She left to change and I looked at him.

"The suit is designed to help protect her more, not just to look good and hold weapons, Barton. I knew if she ever joined us you would want her in something that would protect her as much as possible. I did the best I could."

"Thank you, Tony. I'm just still scared of letting her do this. This life isn't kind to the good guys. You know that."

"I know, Legolas. But at least this time, she needs to do this. You can work out what she can do with her later. I wouldn't mind her just being here doing research with me. She's good."

"Thanks. I should get ready and finish helping her."

"I'll let you have your father-daughter time. I just thought you might want this for her."

"I do for this. Thank you, Tony. I mean it."

He tapped my shoulder and left. I took my uniform and went to change. When I finished, as was my usual before a major mission, I pulled out a family picture, only this time, I pulled out two. One was Laura, Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel. The other was Sophie. I sat staring at them.

 **Sophie's POV:**

"Clint?"

He was sitting in front of where his uniform had been before I'd left him just staring at something in his hands. I walked over to him and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Clint?"

He finally looked up at me and I noticed he had pictures in his hands, I just couldn't see what they were. He folded them and put them inside his uniform. He got up.

"You look great, Sophie."

"What were those that you just put away?"

He pulled them back out.

"My reminder of why I fight the fight and do my damndest to get out alive. I always keep a picture of my family with me when I go on missions. Now that you're part of that, I'll keep a second picture, of you, to remind me that family never abandons family, Sophie."

I hugged him tightly.

"You look good, too," I said knowing he was uncomfortable sharing something so personal when there was no way to stop what we were heading into.

"Here," he said handing me a couple of cartridges from his equipment. "The go into your boots like this."

He showed me how to lock them into my boots. Then he took another out of his equipment and showed me how to get them to work in the field. He gave me one to test and when he was sure I got it, we got me ready with guns and a few daggers and knives.

While we were on the plane, Clint showed me how to work his bow and quiver for the arrows. It was ingenious how pushing a button would decide what type of arrowhead would be put onto the arrow in the quiver on your back. He explained the different types of arrowheads the quiver was loaded with and then gave me a pack to put on my belt with tools to remove arrowheads if I needed to reuse arrows.

Natasha and I went over the plan. The two of us were going to use my fire portal to get to the facility. The Vision and Wanda were going to leave after us and head to the facility from the north. Stark and Steve would fly in from the south. Rhode and Sam were going to fly in from the west. This way all of them would be on their way to us in case things got out of control. Bruce was staying in the Quinjet with Clint, which they would keep on the Belarus border to keep from raising red flags. But with the others, by the time anyone realized they were coming, the plan was for Natasha and I to already be in the facility and, ideally, on our way back out with Bucky.

Clint landed the Quinjet in Poland and everyone got out, comms in their ears, ready to go. Clint gave me a hug.

"Be careful, Sophie," he said to me as he kissed my head. "Watch out for yourself and my daughter, Tasha. Please."

"I will, Clint. I promise," Natasha said, turning to me. "Put these in the pouch at your back."

I took the round discs from her and did as she said.

"What are they?"

"They disable electronics. Just in case we have a problem with Bucky, these will disable his metal arm."

I nodded at her and prayed we weren't too late.

"Ready to go?" I asked her.

"Are you sure you can do this?"

"Yes. You've shown me enough pictures and blueprints. My powers will short out any security system they have. It will buy us some time."

"Let's do this," Natasha said.

"I'll see you in a little while, Clint."

"You better, Kid."

I nodded at him, held Natasha close to me, and hit the ground. The firewall opened, closed in and enveloped us. When it fell, we were in the basement of a building. I looked to Natasha for confirmation we were in the right place. She nodded.

Quietly, I followed her to where she suspected prisoners might be held. She was right. We found Bucky in a cell deeper in the basement. Natasha pulled out a small bomb. I stopped her.

"Let me. It's quieter."

I put my hand on the doorknob and let the fire flow through me. I could feel the metal melting under my touch. I pushed the door and it swung open. Natasha went in first. Bucky attacked her. I followed her in.

"Sergeant," I said to him in Russian. "Please, don't fight us. It's me, Sophie."

He stopped and looked at me.

"Sophie?"

"Yeah, Bucky. It's me. I'm here to save you with Black Widow. Come with us."

"We can't get out of here fast enough. They'll catch us. Get out of here while you can, Sophie."

"I'm not leaving you. Family doesn't abandon family. I'm learning that. And you _are_ my family. You're my brother, Bucky, and I'm not leaving you here for them to do whatever to you."

"How sweet! The Winter Soldier has someone who cares about him, and the Black Widow has a protégé! You will all make excellent specimen," a voice said in Russian from the door.

"I don't think so," I replied in Russian. "We're leaving."

"You're not leaving this room."

"You can't stop me from taking us," I replied with a smile.

He pulled the trigger as I Bucky grabbed Natasha and grabbed hold of me, knowing I was going to rush to open the fire portal. When it opened, we were back at the Quinjet's original location. I collapsed to the ground.

 **Barton's POV:**

"All teams, return to original position. We have the Winter Soldier and we need medical assistance," I heard over the comms from Nat.

"I'll be there in three, Nat. Who's hurt?"

"Bucky and Sophie," she replied after a minute of silence.

"Bruce, get ready, we need medical assistance. Bucky and Sophie are hurt," I called out to him as I pushed the Quinjet to the limit.

I got to her and ran out of the Quinjet as soon as I landed it. I got to Sophie and checked her. She was pale, but I looked for injuries. She had a graze from a bullet wound. It wasn't bleeding too badly, but it was still bleeding. Bruce came right over to her and cleaned up the bullet wound.

"What happened?"

"She got shot as she opened the fire portal to get us out," Barnes said.

"She doesn't look like she's losing a lot of blood."

"She lost more earlier. She'll be fine in about twenty minutes," Barnes said to me. "Why was she in there?"

"She insisted on coming in with me so they wouldn't have time to wipe you clean again," Natasha explained. "She really cares about you, Barnes."

"Bucky?" Sophie called.

Barnes looked at me.

"Go. You're as much her family as I am."

Within twenty minutes, as the others were getting back to the location, Sophie was looking like she hadn't been hurt. The main tell was the tear in the fabric of her uniform.

"Let's go," I said. "We can play catch-up on the way out of here."

We got on the plane and while Stark set J.A.R.V.I.S. to pilot we listened to Barnes tell about his leads about someone trying to start the Red Room program again, so he went to check it out. He explained that they were the ones who trapped him and had been trying to figure out how to get the other former success graduate back, Black Widow. I was glad we got all three back when he mentioned the scientist wanting to keep Sophie when he found her there, too.

Halfway back to the facility, Sophie fell asleep on Bucky. I was grateful that they had each other. I was even happier that she had him back and that her worry something was wrong could be put to rest.

When we got back to the facility, Sophie told me she was going to be with Bucky for a bit before she came back to our quarters. I nodded and let them go.

 **Sophie's POV:**

"Where are you taking me, Sophie?"

"Stark's lab. We've been working on something for you."

When we got into the lab I sat him next to the exam table.

"What is it?"

"A way to fix your memories."

"What?!"

"I suspected it had to be some kind of implant that wiped them and Natasha confirmed it before the mission. I might have something that can wipe the programming, keep anyone from being able to wipe your memories like they do ever again. Will you let me help you?"


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen:**

 **Sophie's POV:**

"Sophie, what have they done to you?" Bucky asked me.

"What do you mean? I'm still me, Bucky."

"Really? You stand in front of me in an Avengers' uniform and tell me you're the same girl I've mentored and protected?"

"I'm not an Avenger. I didn't know Stark made this for me until they agreed to go with my plan to find you. For the most part, while I'm here now I take college classes online and work with Stark in the lab. It's only been in the last week that I convinced Natasha to train me physically because I got bored. This is the first time I've gone out on a mission with them, I swear it. And it was for you, Bucky. You are my family and I wasn't going to risk you getting hurt, just like no matter how mad I made you, you wouldn't leave me."

"You're wearing your father's bow and quiver, Sophie."

"He told me it's more powerful than the bow I use. So Clint insisted if I was going to insist on doing this when he wanted me to stay safe here then he wanted me to use it. That's all."

At that point, Coulson walked into the lab.

"Sophie?" he said to me. "When you're done in here, Barton's old quarters are set up for Barnes here. You can take him there. And we'll need to talk about tonight's mission. I figured you'd rather talk to me than Fury?"

"Thanks, Coulson, but could we talk tomorrow? I'm kinda worn out and after Bucky and I spend some time together I just want to crash if it's okay."

He looked from me to Bucky.

"Sure, Sophie. Text me when you're up to talking tomorrow."

"Thanks, Coulson."

He left the room.

"You're getting debriefed? And you claim you're not part of the team?"

"Bucky, it's probably because the strategy was mostly mine and it was me and Natasha who actually went in for you. We're the only two who can account for what happened there other than you. I'm not part of the team. I just did this for you. I had Natasha see if she could track you because you were off the grid too long. I knew you wouldn't break your promise to me. Two days ago Clint came back from seeing his wife and other kids…"

"Do they all know about you? Or is he just hiding you here?"

"Actually, he told my brother and sister about me. They even sent me presents welcoming me into the family. He told his wife it was time they knew about me. They just don't know why I wound up on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar. But that's the thing, Bucky. Clint was coming back and I got my transcript. I wanted to surprise him with it, but that's when I realized how badly I was missing you because I wanted you to see them too, to see how well I was doing without going into the world stealing and killing. Then I opened the gift from my brother Cooper and he said he'd always be there for me because he was my brother. Clint explained Cooper is the kind of guy not to abandon family, which is like Clint. So when I found out that you were in trouble I couldn't _not_ help you, Bucky. Clint and I are getting to know each other, and it's going good for the most part, but you were there during some of the hardest times of my life since Mom died. I don't blame Clint, it's just a fact. You are my family. I had to help you."

"I'm sorry, Sophie."

"For what?"

"Questioning your motives. I should know better than to think that you would lie to me. It's just odd to see you in that uniform."

I hugged him and he hugged me back. I felt a little better.

"Will you let me help you with the implants that mess with your memories?"

"Sophie," he started gently, "you don't even know for sure if this will work. What if you accidentally make it worse?"

"Okay, I understand why that would be a concern. How about a deal?"

"What kind of deal?"

"You let me take some scans now so I have more data to work with so I can modify my work?"

"Sophie, with my arm, I can't go into an MRI or CT machine."

"Don't need you to. I can have J.A.R.V.I.S. do a molecular scan of your brain without any of that."

"So S.H.I.E.L.D. can have that on file? I don't like that."

"I'll put it on a drive that I'll keep with me. It won't go onto the hard drive."

He looked reluctant, but he agreed. I laid him down on the exam table.

"J.A.R.V.I.S.?"

"Yes, Ms. Holden?"

"Can you please do a molecular scan of James Barnes brain, focusing for any implants that might make manipulating his memory easier? I need information on how his memories have been getting suppressed and wiped for all these years. And only download the information onto the flash drive I am about to install, please."

"Right away, Ms. Holden."

I put a flash drive into the drive. The scan started and I logged into my school and pulled up my transcript to show Bucky when the scan was done.

"Scan complete, Sergeant Barnes, you may move. Ms. Holden, the files are successfully saved to your flash drive. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No, J.A.R.V.I.S. Thank you."

Bucky came to where I was sitting and sat next to me.

"That was the weirdest experience of my life," he said smiling at me.

"Here's my transcript, Bucky," I said a little shyly. "I wanted to show you because you are my brother in every sense but DNA, and I want to make you proud."

He looked over my transcript.

"Sophie, this is amazing. This is something to be proud of," he said pulling me into a hug. "You seem to be doing well here."

"Captain Rogers finally thinks so."

"What do you mean? I thought you didn't get along with him."

I pulled up the footage from the training room when I went from training with Clint to training with Rogers. He watched as we sparred. While he did, I got up and went to another station to look at his scans.

His scans showed the implants. Based on the locations and how they were put in, removing them didn't seem like the best option. Even with the super soldier serum that ran in his veins, the sudden removal of pressure that had been on his brain, frozen there at times, for decades, could cause irrevocable brain damage. The best plans were to access the program itself and disable it or to short it out. Of course, shorting the implant could negatively affect Bucky, too. I was looking at the details of the implants when Bucky came over to me again.

"You got a little rusty without me. You should have been able to beat him, Sophie."

I smiled at him.

"They don't train me as hard as you did. And that was the first time he ever trained with me. He didn't think I could handle him."

"You certainly proved him wrong," he said, looking at the screen I was working at. "Are these my scans?"

I nodded.

"The safest way to fix this may be to hack the program of the implant and permanently disable them that way. Any other way risks injury to you."

"If you can figure it out, I'll let _you_ help me, Sophie."

I looked up at him.

"You mean that, Bucky? You'll let me help you if I can figure out how to disable the program?"

"Yes. It bothers me that I feel like I know people, but I can never remember why or what they meant to me. If you can help me remember, I will let you help me."

"Thank you, Bucky!"

"Am I interrupting, anything?" Rogers said from the doorway.

"No, Cap. Just having a great moment with Bucky. What can I do for you?" I asked, not able to keep the smile off of my face.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay, Sophie. You're not one of us, not a soldier or an Avenger, but you were the one who took the hit in the field tonight. I know you're like me and Bucky. You heal quickly, but I wanted to know if you're actually healed."

"Yeah, Cap," I said turning so he could see the bullet wound was closed, "the bullet wound is closed and the nap on the Quinjet on the way back here took care of my energy running low from using the fire portal the way I did, so I'm good. Thanks for asking."

"If you need anything, Sophie, let me know."

"Thanks, Cap."

"Bucky, it's good to have you back. I know you don't remember me, but I hope one day we can fix that," Cap said to Bucky.

Bucky nodded at him and Rogers left.

"You didn't tell him what you were planning," Bucky said to me.

"I figured if you wanted him to know you were letting me do it, you could have told him. I still won't tell them anything about you except how much you mean to me."

"Do you think you can break this program?"

"Give me a week?"

"Why so long?" he asked laughing.

"Because I'm in school and training," I said laughing back. "Come on, you've got to be tired. Let me show you to your quarters."

I ejected the flash drive and put it in my pocket.

"Why aren't they keeping me in a cell?"

"Probably because of me. They'll probably tell you there are certain areas you can't go, especially not alone, but you won't be locked in a cell."

"How did we switch roles?"

 **Barton's POV:**

I was on my way to be debriefed when I ran into Steve in the hallway. He stopped me.

"Barton. I just ran into Sophie in the lab with Bucky. They were… close. She was in his arms. Is there anything going on there?" Steve asked.

"No, she assured me that she looks at him only as a brother. Do you think I would have let her go off on a mission like this for a boyfriend, Steve?"

"It's just weird to see him smiling again. I miss that smile and she brings it out in him. I'm grateful, even if he doesn't remember me."

"Maybe he will someday, Steve. Give him time. He's been through hell."

"I know," Steve said before patting me on the shoulder. "You should get to Fury. He's not fond of being kept waiting."

I laughed.

"I know."

I walked the rest of the way to Fury's office. I knocked and he called me in.

"So, Barton, give me your report."

I told him what I knew directly.

"What is your opinion on how it went?"

"Well, Sir, I would have preferred there have been no injuries, but the injuries that were sustained were relatively minor compared to what they could have been. I think the team worked well together and there were no unexpected problems."

"And your daughter? How do you think she worked with the team?"

I got angry.

"I'm not the best person to answer that question. I wasn't the one with her during the most crucial points of the mission."

"But you're her father. How do you think Sophie would do on this team, Barton?"

"I'm not answering that, Sir."

He looked at me in shock.

"Why the hell not?"

"Why do you think, Nick?! She's my seventeen year old daughter, who I was brought in to either subdue or kill before I knew she was mine, and now you want to know how well she'd handle this life?! I'm not going to help you pull her in! She's already been through so much, I won't do this."

"She's going to be on our watch list for the rest of her life, then, Barton."

"Oh, don't give me that crap, Nick! She's already on your watch list. She was as soon as she made it onto your radar. All of us are on your radar whether we're working with you or not, so don't try to act like me helping push her into this will keep her off of it. I've been in this game too long to fall for that."

"Well, I see we're not going to agree on this. But understand, she has a similar skill set to you, Barton. What else do you think she's going to do?"

"She's got more than my skill set, Nick," I said getting up and getting very close to his face. "She has her mother's intellect. She can be so much more than a spy and assassin."

"And where did that get her mother, Barton?"

I swung before I could stop myself.

"Don't you _ever_ imply that Sophie's only options in life are to either end up like me or Anya," I whispered to him dangerously as I stood over him. "In fact, don't ever bring up Anya again, Nick."

I turned and walked out of the office, ignoring the fact that he hadn't dismissed me. I texted Sophie to tell her I was spending the night on the archery range and went straight there.

It was nearly nine thirty in the morning when I returned to my quarters. Sophie was asleep at the computer. She was supposed to be in training with Natasha. I went over to her and gently shook her awake.

"Hmmm?"

"Sophie, you're late for training," I said to her.

She jumped up and ran to her room, slamming the door behind her. Two minutes later she came out in sweats with her hair pulled back. I handed her her training bag.

"Did you sleep at the computer all night?" I asked her.

"I must have crashed while I was working on something. I remember seven this morning, and then you were waking me up. Natasha's gonna be pissed that I'm late after I blew off my last training session," she said as she ejected a flash drive from the computer and locked it in a vault by the computer that only opened with her fingerprints.

I put my hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Clint, I'm late. I gotta go. Can we talk later?"

"Sit down. I'll text Natasha that I'll cover your training. You're exhausted."

She dropped the bag on the floor and leaned on me.

"Thanks. I really didn't want to face her wrath at this hour on no real sleep."

I led her to the couch and instead of texting Natasha I called her. She picked up on the second ring.

"Barton, you better be calling to tell me that Sophie is dying or on her way."

"Actually, Nat, I'm gonna cover her training today. I just got back to my quarters to find her sleeping at the computer. She was up all night working on something."

"What's she working on that she stayed up all night? Most things don't keep her up like that."

"I don't know. I haven't had a chance to talk to her. I literally woke her up about four minutes ago. She was ready to run out to get to you when I stopped her."

"Fine, but no excuses for tomorrow."

"I'll tell her."

"I'll see you later. I've got people to train."

I hung up and looked at Sophie.

"Nat said no excuses for tomorrow."

She nodded, her mind somewhere else.

"What's on your mind, Sophie?"

"Bucky."

"What about him? I mean, I believed you when you said there's nothing going on between you, but Steve said the two of you looked very close last night in Stark's lab. Is there something I should know?"

"I guess so."

Was my seventeen year old about to tell me she was dating the Winter Soldier? I wasn't sure I was ready for that.

"Natasha mentioned before the mission the Soviets used implants as a way to keep wiping Bucky's memories so they could keep him their perfect assassin. Last night I took him to Stark's lab because I'd suspected something like that for a while and had been working on something to help. We'd talked about why he didn't want to try what I had and I ultimately agreed, so we made a deal. He let me use J.A.R.V.I.S. to scan his brain for the implants and the molecular structures, as long as it was on a private flash drive, so I could try to work out a more target-specified plan.

"What Captain Rogers walked in on when he came to check on me last night was Bucky agreeing, if I could figure out a way to do it, to permanently disable the implants in his brain. I was hugging him and smiling so much because he's trusting me to try to bring back his memories, Clint," she said to me smiling.

I breathed a mental sigh of relief that she wasn't dating the Winter Soldier.

"So that's what was on the drive you just locked away?"

She nodded.

"I had gone over the scans while I let him watch me sparring with Captain Rogers and found that the best way is to find a way to hack the program and permanently disable it. Removing the implants or using any other methods to try to fry them could cause damage to Bucky. That was when Bucky came over to tell me that I was slipping and should have beat Captain Rogers."

I looked at her in shock.

"Wait, what?"

"He used to train me, Clint. Harshly, no holding back. That's why my combat skills are so much better than any of you gave me credit for."

"You didn't tell Coulson that."

"I don't say anything about Bucky to anyone around here really, except how much he means to me."

She was right. She didn't. She guarded information about him better than Fort Knox was guarded.

"I'd like to see the two of you train together. Maybe he can train you with my supervision today?"

"I'll ask him."

Her phone rang with a text message.

"It's Coulson. I have to meet him at some point today for a debriefing. He wanted to do it last night, but I asked if it could wait until today."

"You shouldn't make him wait too long, then. Text me when you're done. I'll meet you in the training room you trained with me last time. Hopefully with Barnes?"

She got up and grabbed her training bag. She was about to leave when she turned to ask me a question.

"Why were you gone all night, Clint?"

"I was upset. Needed to clear my head."

"What about?"

"Maybe we'll talk about it later. You should go see Coulson."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen:**

 **Sophie's POV:**

I knocked on Bucky's door. He opened it, looking a lot better than he did the night before.

"What is it, Sophie?"

"You have to be debriefed still, right?"

He nodded.

"Come with me. I'm heading to Coulson now. I figure afterwards we can train."

"Will they let me into those areas?"

"Clint is supervising. He wants to see the difference between when I train with you versus training with anyone from here."

"He does know that I don't hold back on you, doesn't he?"

"Yeah."

"Hang on."

Bucky walked away from the door and put on biker gloves and a jacket so his metal arm wasn't as obvious. Then we started towards Coulson. When we got to his office, he decided he'd see us together. An hour and a half later we were walking into the training room were Clint was waiting for us.

I put my bag down, put my bow and quiver over my shoulder and sheathed some knives. Clint looked at me with concern. Bucky was also arming himself.

"What are two doing?" Clint finally asking.

Bucky looked at me and nodded at me. He was leaving it to me to answer his questions. Bucky walked to the other side of the room, getting ready to start training me. My body was already tensing in anticipation of the fight with him.

"You said you wanted to see us train, right?"

"Yeah, but we don't usually use actual weapons when training, Sophie."

"We do. Trust us. Besides, our injuries heal quickly."

Clint walked toward where our stuff was and I walked closer to where the training area of the room was. Bucky immediately went on the attack.

Barton's POV:

As soon as Sophie reached a safe distance from me, Barnes went on the attack, with a large knife in his hand. Sophie quickly unsheathed a knife of her own to block his knife and the two of them went back and forth, throwing their knives back and forth from one hand to the other trying to land a hit on the other.

Barnes kicked Sophie in the chest and she flew back a few feet. He came at her with his knife, but by the time he got to her, she knocked an arrow in her bow and shot it into his metal arm, the momentum knocking him back, giving her breathing room. She unsheathed another knife and the two of them exchanged punches and kicks as they swiped at each other with incredible speed and accuracy.

Just like with Steve, Sophie adjusted to the way Barnes fought, but every time she adjusted, he changed his fighting style. Within half an hour, I texted the team to watch the session I was supervising. When they got to me, they were amazed at what they were seeing.

"She was holding out on me," Steve said in awe. "When I fought Bucky I didn't fare as well."

"Well, she _is_ a lot younger than you, Cap," said Stark. "But this is impressive. Legolas Junior is fast."

"Will you _stop_ calling her Legolas Junior, Stark? Her name is Sophie."

"She's got real talent. An excellent skill set, better than I realized," Natasha said leaning into me.

"Are you sure she's only seventeen, Barton?" Rhodes asked me. "Because I don't know many seventeen year olds who can fight like this."

"No wonder this girl was able to shoot me in the gut the way she did," Sam said in amazement. "Look who's been teaching her."

Neither Sophie nor Barnes seemed to even notice that we were there. They went at it another hour. I was getting ready to tell them it was time to call it a draw for lunch when Sophie hit Barnes with a roundhouse kick that knocked him to his knees. She stepped back and offered him his hands. He took it, standing up and pulling her into a hug.

"Maybe I shouldn't have said they made you soft in my absence," he said to her as the team started to clap the spectacle the two of them had just put on together.

As they walked over to us, I could see some dried blood on both of them. Honestly I was more concerned about Sophie, but neither of them seemed concerned about the fact that they had blood on them. When they got closer I realized the dried blood was just that. There were no cuts to go with them.

Barnes had his arm over Sophie's shoulder, like a proud sibling. I could see now what she meant about how they were with each other. I had nothing to worry about between them. He was her mentor, a brother, a friend. Nothing more. They seemed almost happy together.

I handed them wet towels and pointed to the dried blood. Barnes nodded his thanks to me. He was a man of few words. Sophie came out from under his arm and jumped into mine.

"Thank you, Clint! That was so much fun!" she exclaimed. "I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to do that again!"

"Apparently you should do it more often, he trains you harder than any of us do," I replied with a small laugh. "Did those cuts hurt?"

She used the towel to clean the blood off of her.

"Not really. I guess the adrenaline kept it from kicking in. I almost never feel injuries when I train with him. He keeps me on my toes so much I don't really have time to think about them. By the time we stop they're mostly healed and don't hurt."

"Are you hungry?"

"Starving."

"Do you want to eat here or go out?"

"Can Bucky come with us if we go out?"

"Sure."

"Then out. I'm kinda sick of the sandwiches here right now," she said laughing.

"Who wants to go out to lunch?" I asked turning around.

The whole team decided to go. Sophie walked over to Bucky and Natasha walked over to me.

"Did you really punch Fury last night, Clint?"

I nodded.

"Why?"

"He tried to get me to give the okay to recruit Sophie. When I wouldn't he tried to tell me with her skills her fate was either going to be mine or Anya's. So I hit him and told him he was wrong and never to speak of Anya again."

"You do realize she might decide to join the team, don't you, Clint?" Nat asked gently.

I sighed.

"I know," I said defeated. "She feels that this would be her way to redemption, her way of paying her debt to society for what she did that led us to her. But I don't have to like it or give them my blessing before I've had a chance to work this out with my daughter."

"I understand that."

Sophie came back over to me.

"Captain Rogers is taking Bucky to his room to clean up and change so he can lend him some clothes since he doesn't have much. Maybe we should go back to our quarters? I desperately need a shower," she said.

 **Sophie's POV:**

After lunch, Bucky and I went to Stark's lab. Most of the Avengers were out of the facility on a call, so we were pretty much on our own. I decided to use the time to run some variances with J.A.R.V.I.S.

I felt like I had been writing computer coding to counter the programing in the implants for days. My eyes were tired and dry. Bucky was trying to be supportive. Finally, I made a break.

"Ms. Holden, it seems this coding will override the programming and allow you access into the implant programming."

"I got it!" I said, hugging Bucky.

That was the hardest part of deactivating the implants, getting into them. Once I was in, I would be able to safely render them useless.

"Seriously?"

"Yes. That's why I've been sitting at a computer all these hours and all night. I needed to find a way into the program. This code will get me in. I can take care of the rest once I'm in."

"But how will you access the implants?"

"What implants?" Stark asked, walking in drinking one of his green health drinks.

"I need to tell him. He needs to supervise me. I'll be doing everything though, I promise," I whispered to him.

He didn't look thrilled, but he nodded.

"The implants the Soviets put in Bucky's brain that gave them the way to keep wiping his memory any time he became non-compliant. I figured out how to hack the programming so I can get in and deactivate the implants, but I need to figure out how to access them."

"Well, how did you get the data on the implants to begin with?"

"I had J.A.R.V.I.S. run a scan last night and save it on a private flash drive."

"Is the flash drive in the computer?"

I nodded.

"J.A.R.V.I.S. can you show us a 3-D model of the Winter Soldier's brain?"

"Yes, Sir, Mr. Stark."

Suddenly there was a 3-D model of Bucky's brain in the middle of the lab. Bucky got up and looked at it in awe.

"That's my brain?" he asked Stark.

"As of last night, yes. I take it you would prefer not to have surgery and just remove the implants?"

"It's not safe, Stark. He's had those in his brain for decades, going through countless periods of cryostasis since having them implanted. Removing them, removing the pressure they put on his brain can cause irrevocable brain damage."

"Jolt of electricity to short them out?"

Bucky twitched slightly.

"Not an option. Also not safe. Deactivating them is the best course of action."

"J.A.R.V.I.S. do these implants give off any kind of signal that we can access?"

"Scanning the data stored… Yes, they do, but in order to access them from here you will need to break into the computer that controls them or else they might damage Sergeant Barnes."

"What do you mean, Buddy?"

"It seems to be some kind of safe-guard to keep just anyone from deactivating his programming, Sir."

"Can you track the signal back to the source computer?"

"I would need access to Sergeant Barnes in order to do so, Sir."

"Wait, what does that mean?"

I grabbed a small electrode that connected to the computer.

"You would sit in that chair right there. I put some gel on this and put it on your head. It will give J.A.R.V.I.S. clearer access to any signals to follow back to the origin that we can follow so I can override those implants and permanently disable them."

"Will it electrocute me, Sophie?" he asked quietly.

"No, Bucky. I would never do anything that would do that to you intentionally. I know your issues," I whispered back.

"Fine. See if you can track the computer from here to do this."

I put the electrode in his hair, based on the 3-D model, closest to where the implants were. I nodded at Stark and he gave the order for J.A.R.V.I.S. to start backtracking the signal. After that was started, we ordered dinner knowing the three of us were probably going to be in the lab for a while.

Coulson brought our takeout to the lab an hour later. The trace was still running. It was narrowed to Eastern Europe. I had a feeling of where it was going to be. The three of us ate dinner while the trace continued. Finally, after nearly three hours, it finished.

"I have found the source, Sir."

"Let's see it," Tony said.

A map appeared on the screen and got smaller until it showed us a building. We all knew the building. It hadn't been long since we'd left it.

"Belarus," I said. "Makes sense. That's where you spent most of your time, Bucky. J.A.R.V.I.S., do you have a clear trace of the signal?"

"Yes, Ms. Holden."

"Then it's time to get to work."

"Wait, what are you doing, Sophie?" Bucky asked.

"Taking care of you, Bucky. Tony, I need you to go get my dad. I don't know how long this will take and I might have to have him cover me with Natasha again tomorrow."

"Better him than me," Stark said as he left.

"Are you sure you can do this, Sophie?"

"I can hack a computer. And I already have the coding that will get me into your specific implants. Once I'm in there, it's just a matter of disabling them permanently. I just need you to keep the electrode on until I'm done."

"You sent Stark away."

"I'm trying to keep him out of your information as much as I can. You seem to want that. I can't keep him out completely, but I'll do what I can without him."

"Thank you, Sophie."

"Family doesn't need to thank each other for helping each other. It's what they do for each other," I told him, like Clint told me.

"Sophie, I want you to know, I do care about you. I can't love anyone, not with the way that they changed me, but I do care about you. If I pull away when this is changed, give me time. I have over seventy years of memories that I'm missing."

"As long as you don't push me away completely, I can give you time, Bucky. Just don't disappear from my life," I told him. "And I knew you cared about me. That's why you got so frustrated with me sometimes."

I went back to hacking into the computer. Ten minutes later, Clint walked into the lab. He looked between us.

"Have you two been in here since lunch?" he asked.

"Yes," I replied.

"Did you even have dinner?"

"Yeah, Stark ordered dinner for us and we ate while we worked."

"What's going on, Sophie?"

"Clint, I know that Natasha said no excuses for tomorrow…"

"No. You can't."

"Clint, I figured out how to get into his implants so I can deactivate the programming. I'm hacking into the computer that controls the implants now so I can do it without hurting him. This will be the last time. I promise."

"The lengths the two of you will go for each other," he said sounding frustrated. "Fine! I'll cover for her, but I'm supervising your training and don't forget your next block of classes start tomorrow."

"I'll get my work for school done and I can handle training with you. I just may need to sleep in first."

"Try not to stay in the lab until sunrise?"

"I'll try, Clint."

He left and Bucky and I were alone again.

"You still don't call him dad. Why? He obviously adores you and he tracked me down to save your life when you stopped eating."

"I don't know. I guess I'm still not used to him being my father sometimes. We get along and I do like him, but I'm getting used to the situation still."

"He loves you, Sophie. I can see it in his eyes. I can hear it in the way he talks about you. When you are in danger, it is even more clear. He may not have known about you, but he does love you unconditionally now. Don't keep him at a distance."

"I'm trying not to. I'm just adjusting to having a parent who is so opinionated. Mom wasn't around me much because I got out of the lab and she didn't. I've been on my own for a long time. I just need time."

I went back to work, sometimes joking with Bucky as I did, other times just in a silence. Stark came in and out of the lab to check on my progress. Finally, at three in the morning, I was at the critical point.

"Bucky, get ready."

"Ready for what?"

"I've broken into the program. I'm in the program for the implants. I'm starting the disabling process. I don't know how it will affect you, if the memories will flood in at once or if you will get a massive headache or what, so just be ready."

He nodded at me and I went back to focusing completely on the task at hand. By four thirty, the program was completely dismantled and deleted. I turned to look at Bucky, who was gripping his head.

"Bucky, are you okay?" I asked him.

He yelled out in pain. There were tears in his eyes.

"Bucky," I said, trying to place a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Don't! I'm a monster!" He yelled out.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., get Captain Rogers here now," I said.

"Yes, Ms. Holden."

Bucky backed himself into a corner and wouldn't come out. I didn't get any closer, I knew I couldn't help him. Five minutes later, Captain Rogers came running into the room with his vibranium shield wearing pajama pants, a t-shirt, and sneakers.

"Sophie, what's wrong?"

"Steve?" Bucky said slightly coming out of the corner.

It made sense to me. The Captain was the biggest part of Bucky's life before he became the Winter Soldier. Of course he would remember him first.

"Bucky? You remember me?" Steve asked in shock, looking back and forth between me and Bucky.

"I remember you being a runt who got his ass kicked. How did I become a monster, Steve?"

My heart started to break for him.

"It's not your fault, Bucky. They brainwashed you, wiped your memories, turned you into a weapon. That wasn't you," Steve said getting closer to you. "You aren't a monster. If you were, you wouldn't have helped this girl when her mother died."

"She reminded me of you. She lost her mom and was constantly getting into trouble. I just didn't know it," Bucky said.

Bucky hugged Steve.

"How is this possible? How did you get your memories back?" Steve asked.

"I don't have them all yet, but ask Sophie," Bucky replied.

I explained what I did.

"Thank you, Sophie. You've given me another chance with my best friend. I can never repay you for that."

"He wanted to remember, Captain. And I would do anything for the man who's like my big brother."

"Come here, Sophie," Bucky said to me.

I cautiously walked over to him. He pulled me into a hug. I started crying. I hadn't realized how much I was scared I would lose him when I gave him his memories back. But his hug felt different, more comforting now.

"I love you too, Sophie," he whispered to me and I started crying more.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen:**

 **Barton's POV:**

After Sophie gave Barton his memories back, things changed. Not in a bad way, but they changed. We started spending more time together when I was at the facility during weeks that I wasn't in Iowa. She wasn't as stressed out. Once a week when I was with her she'd spend the day with him. Other than that, he was off doing his thing trying to cope with decades of memories and catching up with Rogers.

For Christmas, I got Sophie a cell phone of her own, Stark designed. She gave me a collection of copies of the pictures she had kept. Now I had my own scrapbook of her growing up. It meant more to me than anything else. She built Lila a new easel set for her crafts, made a door plate for Cooper's door with a Hawk and his name on it, and made a mobile for Nathaniel so I could bring home to them. She knew that Laura liked crafts as much as Lila, so she built her a new craft desk so she would be able to store all of her stuff and still have plenty of room to work.

Sophie asked to stay at the facility for Christmas, feeling too awkward to go back to Iowa with me knowing how Laura felt about her on a holiday. I felt bad leaving her, but I agreed. I knew she'd have the team with her. She spent a lot of time with Steve and Barnes when I wasn't around. For Christmas, the three of them made sure a real Christmas dinner was held at the facility. Steve was insistent that Barnes have it.

For Christmas, Sophie designed Barnes a new arm, one without the memories of H.Y.D.R.A. tied to it. She framed a picture of Barnes and Steve from not long after they started spending time together and framed it for Steve. Sophie and Natasha exchanged weapons. Sophie gave Natasha a new gun, smaller design, somehow with a larger magazine, and the symbol of the Black Widow etched into it. Natasha gave Sophie a set of throwing knives. Barnes gave Sophie back the picture we got from the safehouse that gave us her identity, the picture of her mother. He had it framed for her. Steve gave Sophie a leather jacket.

Sophie and I had a video chat on Christmas and I saw that she seemed okay with the team without me. They were joking around and having a good time. It put me at ease. In the middle of the call, Cooper and Lila burst in to thank her for their presents.

"Where did you get that plate?" Cooper asked Sophie.

"I found the metal, but I made the design just for you, one Baby Hawk to another," she said back to him.

"It's so awesome! I love it! But when are we gonna get to meet you?" Cooper asked.

"Eventually. I'm taking classes and working on a lot of projects here. I'll meet you eventually though. But you can ask for my number and permission to video chat every once in a while until then if you want."

"Awesome!" Cooper exclaimed and ran to me to ask for permission for her number and to video chat with her more.

"Hi, Sophie," Lila said, getting to the computer.

"Hi, Lila, nice to meet you. Do you like your present?"

"A lot! Did you make it like Cooper's gift?"

"Yes I did. I heard you like drawing and painting so I thought you might like an easel like that."

"It folds away with all my paints and stuff."

"I know. It should fit under your bed."

"Cool!"

"Did you mean it when you told Cooper about coming to see us?"

"When I get a chance, sure. I'll come see you guys."

"I can't wait!" Lila came running to me and Laura went to the computer, holding Nathaniel.

I tensed watching Laura sitting down, knowing how she'd reacted to Sophie in the past. I was worried about how she would talk to her and whether or not they'd get into a fight. So far the day was going so well that I didn't want anything to ruin it. I sat Lila next to me, hugging her against me, as I paid closer attention to the continuing conversation.

"You must be Laura," Sophie said.

"And you're Sophie."

"It's nice to meet you."

"Thank you for the beautiful mobile for Nathaniel and for the craft desk. I assume you built them like you did the other gifts."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"You have your father's knack for that."

"Thanks."

"Is it true you tried to get him to come home as soon as you realized he was your father?"

"Yes, Ma'am. I didn't have the ideal childhood and I knew what it was like not to have my parents around. Clint didn't know about me, so I don't blame him, I'm not mad at him. He's a great guy and I love getting to know him, but I didn't want to take him away from you, Cooper, Lila, or Nathaniel. I argued with him until he said he would find a way to work it out with you. I didn't want to be the reason your family broke up."

"Thank you," Laura said. "You don't seem like the kind of person I was told about when he initially left on the mission."

"I did what I did because not only did they ultimately kill my mother, experimenting on her until she died, but because I knew as long as they lived I'd live my life looking over my shoulder for them. They wanted me to complete their experiments. I had lost the only family I ever had. And then I found Clint. And Bucky. Things aren't perfect, but they're getting better."

"I'm sorry about your mother. Nobody should have to lose their parent at such a young age," Laura said, but all Sophie just nodded like Barnes does. "So what are you going to do?"

"I'm taking college classes and assisting Stark in the lab here. They've expressed interest in me joining the team, but that's still a point of debate between me and Clint when he's here."

"Maybe you'd like to come visit soon? He'll be here from New Year's Eve until his birthday if you want to come stay and meet your brothers and sister."

"Really? I honestly didn't think you'd let me. I know you wanted Clint home and he was with me, I was afraid between that and what you knew about me you would want to keep me away."

"You don't seem like a bad kid, Sophie. And Cooper and Lila have already fallen for you. If you want to come visit, I'd like to give it a try."

"Thank you, Laura."

"I'll let you talk to your dad. It was nice talking to you," Laura said as she got up with Nathaniel and went back to the kitchen.

"Was I dreaming that she just invited me over, Clint?"

"If you are, so am I, Kid," I replied, laughing. "So what do you think of the rest of your family?"

"Cooper and Lila seem kinda awesome. Nathaniel is adorable. And I'm in shock that Laura even spoke to me, but in a good way. How are you doing out there?"

"It's good to be away from the craziness back there. But I miss you."

"I miss you too, Clint."

"Will you take Laura up on her offer?"

"Sure, but maybe you should stay until your birthday, Clint. You're having a good time. Stay the extra week. Aren't the kids home from school for the next week?"

"Yeah, but what about you?"

"I'll jack one of the Quinjets and come out after New Year's," Sophie said with a mischievous smile. "Besides, we can video chat. It's not like you can't see me. It's a little over a week."

"It'll be the longest we've been apart since I told you I'm your father, Sophie."

"I know. And I'm not trying to push you away. But I'm okay and you're having a good time with Laura and the kids. It's the holidays. Really."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, Clint. Stay, enjoy the holidays with them. I'll see you before your birthday."

"Alright," I said and I heard Stark and Steve yelling dinner was there. "Go. I'll talk to you in the next few days. I love you."

"I love you too, Clint."

The video call ended and Laura came over to me.

"Are you really not going back tomorrow?" she asked me.

"No, I'm not. Sophie insisted I stay since the kids have the week off for the holidays. She said she'll fly out on her own a few days before my birthday."

"She can fly?"

"She knows how to fly the Quinjets. Actually, the first time we got close to catching her, in Scotland, she _stole_ our Quinjet. That's how she got away," I said laughing.

"What kinds of powers does she have? Does she have control of them?"

"Don't worry, she's been on a mission, she's proven she has complete control. She has fire abilities, teleportation, and then she's like Steve, enhanced speed, healing, things like that. I'm sure I missed a few, but you have nothing to worry about, Laura. I promise. What she did, it was only the people who were responsible for her mom, who tested on her mother while she was pregnant with Sophie until she died."

"What kind of monster experiments on a pregnant woman, Clint?"

"The kind Sophie exterminates. The people she went after, none of them were innocent. And now she wants to join the team to pay her dues to society for what she did do."

"How do you feel about that?"

"I don't want her to have my life, Laura. She has her mother's intellect."

"You're not exactly stupid, Clint."

"No, but her mother was a genius. Literally."

 **Sophie's POV:**

"So, how's Legolas?" Stark asked.

"Staying with Laura and the kids until his birthday."

"Are you okay with that?" Steve asked me.

"It was my idea. He was retired, guys. He wanted out of this life. He only came back because of me. He stayed because of me. We still have things to work out, but he should be with them for the holidays."

"That was giving of you," Stark said.

"Laura invited me out there."

Stark and Natasha spit out their drinks.

"What?" asked Bucky.

"She asked me to come visit for Clint's birthday."

"It's gotta be a trap of some kind," Stark said.

"Really, Tony? Not everyone is as cynical as you are," Bruce piped up. "Laura seemed nice when we were all there. If she invited her I'm sure it was a genuine invitation. Stop trying to scare Sophie."

"Or what? You gonna turn into an enormous green rage monster?" Stark teased.

"Stark, shut up," Natasha said. "Let's just have dinner without any disasters?"

Dinner went pretty smoothly after that. We all joked and talked about crazy experiences we'd had with our powers or in our lives in general. It was pretty nice.

After dinner, I went to the range to try out the bow Tony gave me for Christmas, which was only part of my Christmas gift, part that Clint knew about. I didn't think he'd be so thrilled about some of the rest of it. The bow felt good in my hands, natural. I had lost myself in shooting, the day had been great. When I was getting ready to leave, I noticed Nick Fury was on the range with me.

"Your shooting is impressive, Ms. Holden. Have you given any consideration to joining our team?"

"I need to talk it over with my father. I'm sure you understand."

"We'll be watching you if…"

"That's enough, Fury," Steve said. "Barton warned you about this. Back off. She's still under eighteen."

Fury gave Steve a look and left.

"What did you mean when you told him Clint warned him about this?"

"Come on, I was coming to invite you to go out with me and Bucky. We're going into town."

"If you're going to a bar, you know I can't go."

"I don't drink. I doubt Bucky does and there's no point in you doing it. Our metabolisms filter the alcohol out of our systems too fast for it to have any real effect on us."

"Good to know. In that case, sure."

We drove into town and hung out at a sports bar.

"So what was that about back there, Steve?"

He looked from Bucky to me.

"We've all been keeping something from you, Sophie," Bucky said.

"What is it?"

"Your father and Fury are on the outs right now. After the mission to rescue Bucky he pushed Barton for information on whether or not you were ready to be an Avenger. Barton wouldn't answer and Fury kept pushing. Ultimately, something was said about your mother and Barton hit Fury, telling him to back off the subject all together," Steve explained.

"How was he trying to push?"

"Natasha said Fury tried telling Barton if you became an Avenger you wouldn't be on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s watch list," Bucky said.

"Which is a lie. All of us are on that watch list. Every last Avenger, every enhanced that S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever found is kept on a watch list," Steve continued.

"So he was lying?"

"He tends to do that," Steve said. "Look, we all know you're leaning towards becoming one of us, but definitely before you turn eighteen, Sophie. And we would prefer it if you and Barton came to some kind of terms on it. Retired or not, Barton is one of us."

"I'm trying to find a way to tell him, because you're right, I think I do want to become an Avenger. For over a year I used my abilities to kill. I want to use them to help people."

"I believe you, Sophie. Just try to work things out with your father. We won't turn you away when you're eighteen, but it would make things easier if he was on board with you doing this," Steve said.

"Bucky, you're quiet. Are you mad at me for saying this?"

Steve looked at Bucky.

"You need to tell her, Buck."

"Tell me what?"

"I'm in training. I may not be part of the main team, but an asset they can use," Bucky said.

"So you're going to stay?"

He nodded. I jumped up and hugged him.

"Let's just say your year of bad deeds is nothing compared to what I remember. If I can do anything do redeem myself for that, I want to try."

"I get it, Bucky," I said as I kissed his cheek.

We hung out at the sports bar for a while longer then went back to the facility. When we got back, we decided to hang out in Steve and Bucky's quarters. They had decided to room together as Bucky got his memories back. I ran to my quarters, grabbed some stuff and met them at their quarters, where we spent the night joking around and watching movies.

 **Barton's POV:**

It was the day before my birthday and Sophie still hadn't contacted me to come out. I was starting to worry about her. Just before Cooper and Lila's school bus dropped them off from school, she called me with a video call.

"Hey, Clint, I'm sorry I've been out of touch the last few days," she said.

"Are you okay?"

"What? Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a few papers due for school and I've been distracted finishing those and some stuff in the lab before I go, but I'm ready to head out now. Like right now. Packed and ready to go. I just need the coordinates of the farmhouse. I'm on the Quinjet."

I gave her the coordinates.

"Thanks, Clint. I'll be there in a few hours."

"You should be here by dinner. I'll tell Laura to expect you for dinner."

"Cool. I'll see you then."

She ended the call and I heard Lila and Cooper coming down the path to the house. When they saw me standing on the porch they came running to me.

"Daddy!" yelled Lila as she launched herself into my arms.

"Hey, Baby, how was school?" I asked as I led them into the house.

"Have you heard from Sophie yet?" Cooper asked.

"I actually just got off the phone with her. She's on her way, so go get your homework done and clean up your rooms so you can spend time with her when she gets here later," I told them.

They ran off in excitement. Laura came out of the kitchen when she heard them run upstairs.

"What are they so excited about?" she asked with a smile on her face.

"Sophie's on her way. She should be here by dinner."

"Where's she been all week. You've been worrying about her."

"She had some work for school and in the lab with Stark. She apologized for getting so distracted."

"Well, at least you can relax knowing she's okay."

"You're right," I said, giving Laura a kiss.

A few hours later I heard the Quinjet approaching and my phone started ringing. It was Sophie.

"Hey, Clint, I need to make sure nobody is in your barn right now."

"We're all in the house, why?"

"I'm moving your birthday gift and I'm going to use a fire portal. I'm not sure how it will affect anyone I'm not touching so it's better to keep distance."

"Just hurry up and get in here."

"I'm landing the Quinjet now. I'll be at your door in about two minutes."

 **Sophie's POV:**

I grabbed my suitcase and Clint's gift and opened the fire portal to the barn, where I pushed the gift I made him inside and closed the barn off. Then I opened another fire portal to leave me outside the house, just off the porch, with just my suitcase. Before I could walk up the porch and to the door, it opened and Lila and Cooper ran out to greet me.

"You're here!" Lila squealed, hugging me. "We thought you forgot!"

"Finally! We've been waiting for you for days!" Cooper said as he joined in on the hug.

"That's enough, you two!" Clint called from the door. "At least let her get inside."

Lila and Cooper released me and ran back into the house. Clint came down the stairs and grabbed my suitcase after he hugged me.

"It's great to have you here, Sophie. Now my family is whole."

"Thank Laura, Clint. I wouldn't have come out here without her inviting me."

We walked inside and Laura said hello, giving me a short hug. She introduced me to Nathaniel and I realized he was even more adorable in person. Clint led me away from them to show me the guest room I'd be staying in.

"Do you have any schoolwork or anything you need to do while you're here?" he asked when he put my suitcase down.

"Nope. I got everything that is due through the middle of next week done and handed in so I didn't have to worry about that while I came out here."

"Good girl," Clint said, giving me a kiss on my head. "Always make sure you keep up with your schoolwork."

"I will," I replied. "Listen, I need a favor from you."

"What is it?" he asked me cautiously.

"Steve and Bucky wanted to know when I got out here safe, but I guess given their histories, they're a little paranoid. They'll only take the call from you to say I'm here safe. Can you call one of them?"

"Sure, give me your phone," he said with a smirk.

I dialed Bucky and gave him the phone.

"Sophie, I told you unless your father is with you…"

"Barnes, relax. It's Barton. Sophie is standing next to me. She's here and she's safe. We're getting ready to have dinner. Is that good enough for you and Rogers?"

"Yeah, Barton. Have fun with her. We'll see you guys soon."

"Alright, bye."

Clint hung up and gave me the phone back.

"Thanks."

"Are you really okay, Sophie?"

"I am, I just want to talk to you about something, but it can wait until after dinner. Maybe while Lila, Cooper, and Nathaniel are being put to bed. It's just about some stuff I was told after Fury approached me on Christmas."

"He did what?"

"Relax, Steve shooed him away. We'll talk about it later?"

"Yeah, we will."

Dinner with the family was insane. My little brother and sister had a million and one questions about where I had been all these years, what my mom was like, where she was. When they started that Laura stopped them. I gave her a grateful smile.

After dinner, I played around with Lila and Cooper for a little while, which was weird for me since I was never a normal kid. Finally, at nearly nine that night, Laura took the kids so they could go to bed. Clint led me outside so we could talk. It was beautiful and quiet outside, even if it was cold and covered in snow.

"What did Fury say to you?"

"He asked if I thought about joining the Avengers. I mentioned that we were still working on that and then he started to mention I would be on a watch list. That was when Steve shooed him away. We went out to a sports bar with Bucky after that and they told me you're on the outs with Fury because you _hit_ him?"

"He crossed a line."

"They told me he brought Mom into things and that he tried to lie to you about the watch list. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was upset and the morning after, when I calmed down, I found you asleep at the computer. It was the day you fixed Barnes' memories. Everything's just been pretty chaotic since, Sophie."

"No more hiding things from me?"

"If you stop hiding things from me."

"What do you mean?"

"You want to join the team, don't you?"

I dropped my head. I didn't want to have this fight here in Iowa, hours before his birthday started.

"Yes, Clint. I do. I think I can do the most good there. Between the lab and the field, I think I can help a lot of people. I know you don't approve, but this is what I want to do and I've seen all the good you've done in the world. That's a legacy I would be proud to carry on."

"You know I don't want to stay."

"I do. And it's okay. I can survive on my own. You're my father and whether or not you're at my side all the time isn't going to change that."

"But we just found each other, Sophie."

"I know, Clint. But I'm not little like Lila or Nathaniel. I don't need you to hold my hand and take me to the school bus," I said turning to look at him. "I want to continue getting to know you, and I'm not telling you to stop coming back to the Avengers' facility. But, you came out of retirement for me. And, when you're ready, I want you to walk away like you were going to before you realized I was your daughter."

"I can't walk away from you."

"Not from me. From the job, Clint. I can visit, we can talk on the phone or on video chats. I just don't want you staying there because of me."

"I can't convince you against this, can I?"

"I don't think so."

He pulled me into a hug.

"Then you better take time off after every mission to come back here and see all of us, Sophie."


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen:**

 **Barton's POV:**

The morning of my birthday I get up and find Laura, Lila, Cooper, and Nathaniel downstairs waiting for me. They made me breakfast. I eat breakfast with them and then see the kids off to the school bus. When I get back into the house, Laura is at the door.

"Where's Sophie?"

"I let her stay in her room. I think she was crying this morning so I didn't want to overwhelm her with Lila and Cooper. Do you want me to see if she's okay, now?"

"No," I said kissing her. "Thank you for breakfast again. But you have Nathaniel. I'll check on her."

I went upstairs and knocked on her door. She didn't answer so I told her it was me and I was coming in. She was dressed and in bed. I walked around to the side of the bed she was facing. She was asleep and Laura was right. She had been crying. There are tear streaks on her face. In her hands she's holding a framed picture of her and Anya. I sit on the edge of the bed and nudge her awake.

"Sophie, wake up," I call to her gently.

She jumps awake and immediately starts wiping her face.

"Are you okay, Sophie?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Clint," she said trying to hide her pain. "Happy Birthday!"

I pulled her to me.

"You don't have to be okay just because it's my birthday."

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me," she said looking down at the frame. "I just miss Mom."

"It's okay to miss her."

"Not today. Today is about you. I flew halfway across the country to spend your birthday with you," she said getting up. "Come on, let's go."

"Where?"

"To see your gift, Clint."

We walked outside of the house and she stopped when we reached the bottom of the steps.

"Do you wanna know what it's like to go through one of my portals?"

"What? I don't know about that," I said, not wanting to tell her I wasn't a fan of magic after my encounter with Loki.

"Come on, it's painless."

Her eyes lit up with excitement. I couldn't say no.

"Sure," I gave in.

She put her arm around me and called the portal. The fire enveloped us and I was partially scared that it would burn us, but it didn't. We were inside the fire for a short period and then it opened up and we were outside the barn.

"Was that so bad?"

"Compared to other experiences I've had with people with powers? No, it wasn't," I said to her with a smile.

We went inside and she showed me a machine.

"Happy Birthday, Clint!"

"What is it?"

"It's a 3-D archery projector," she said turning it on. "You can shoot to your heart's content without having to worry about pulling arrows out, replacing the target, or anything. It will automatically catch and gather your arrows into a quiver back here, keep your score for each individual shot, and then you can reset it when you run out of arrows."

"Wow, where did you get the money for this, Sophie?"

"I made it, Clint. I have access to Stark tech plus my own innovative ways, so I thought this would be good for your birthday."

"You really like working with your hands, don't you?"

"I guess," she said shrugging. "It just comes naturally to me like some things do."

"Let's test this baby out," I said trying to cheer her up.

I grabbed my bow and quiver of arrows as she moved it out into the field. She set it up to start recording scores and let me know when I could start shooting. When I emptied my quiver I went and checked my score. It was my usual.

"How does it catch the arrows?" I asked.

"There are fans that slow the momentum and then make them drop into a basket where they're collected and gathered in here," she said pulling my arrows out of the other side of the machine.

"That's actually really cool, Sophie."

 **Sophie's POV:**

I flew the Quinjet back to the base with Clint on Saturday night. We left after Laura and Clint put the kids to bed.

"Did you tell her?"

"Tell her what?"

"That you're going to go back into retirement."

"Not yet, Sophie. I'm not ready to leave you to do this on your own just yet. Besides, you're not eighteen yet."

"Eight weeks, Clint. March tenth."

"I'll figure it out, Sophie. You should get some kip. I'll fly."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, go."

I let Clint take control of the Quinjet and stretched out to relax for the flight back. He let me sleep until we got back to base.

"Sophie, we're back," he said, waking me.

I got up and grabbed my suitcase. He grabbed his duffel and equipment bags. We left the Quinjet to find the team waiting for us in the hangar.

"Surprise!" they shouted when we came down.

"What is this?" Clint asked.

"A birthday party. From your other family," Natasha said.

I grabbed Clint's bags and started to walk away.

"Where are you going, Sophie?" Clint asked me.

"I'm just going to drop our bags in our quarters. I'll be back in five minutes," I called back to him.

I left the hangar and dropped the bags in our quarters. I made a quick check into Stark's lab to check on one of the projects I had been working on before starting to make my way back toward the party.

The sting in my thigh was the first sign that I was in trouble. I reached down and pulled a dart out, but my limbs were already starting to feel fuzzy and heavy. My mind was working slow. He grabbed me and dragged me out of the hallway, into one of the service areas.

"Get the fuck away from me," I shouted, trying to push him off of me.

It wasn't working. He slammed me against the wall. He started trying to touch me, fondle me. I tried to fight him, even though my body wasn't responding fast enough. He started tearing at my clothes and I heard him unzip his pants. Suddenly he was at my feet, a pool of blood coming from his neck, where an arrow was sticking out.

"He drugged me with some kind of dart, Dad," I told him slowly as I fell into his arms, everything going dark around me as he wrapped his jacket around me.

I woke up in the medical wing. I was hooked to a machine that was monitoring my vitals. They were borderline, but stable.

"Dad?"

"I'm here," he said as he came to my bedside. "Do you remember what happened, Sophie?"

I stopped to think for a minute. Then it came back. I nodded.

"You stopped him from raping me."

"How did he get to you?"

"I went to the lab before I was going back to the party. I wanted to check on one of my projects quick. In the hallway I felt a sting in my thigh and then everything started getting fuzzy. I tried to fight him, tried to yell, but nothing was working. And then you came and stopped him, Dad."

"You remember calling me that, huh?"

I nodded.

"You saved me."

"Thank Tony. He thought to have J.A.R.V.I.S. track your movements. Otherwise we wouldn't have found you fast enough. Steve and Bucky were right behind me."

"You outran them?"

"Never underestimate the ability of a parent scared for his child, Sophie."

He held me close and I let him. It was comforting.

"Is she awake yet?" Bucky asked from the doorway.

"Hey, Bucky," I said.

He came into the room. He sat on the other side of the bed.

"How long was I out?" I asked, suddenly curious.

"Three hours. We found the dart. Stark said a normal person would be out for at least a day," Dad said.

"Enhancements?"

"Enhancements," Bucky confirmed. "Just like Steve told you we would metabolize alcohol faster than a normal person, we also metabolize drugs a lot faster."

"Good day to be a lab rat, then," I said laughing weakly. "I'm sorry I ruined your party, Dad."

"Don't, Sophie. You're more important than a party."

"Barton," Steve said coming into the room. "I know you don't want to leave Sophie right now, but you need to go give your report. Bucky and I will stay with her."

"Alright, Cap. Just, don't let her out of your sight longer than to go to the bathroom right now?" Dad said.

"Dad!"

"We'll keep a close eye on her. I promise."

Dad nodded and left the room.

"You called him Dad. You've never done that before," Bucky said to me.

"I've also never nearly forcibly lost my virginity like that," I said, not able to look at the two men who were my mentors and now, both big brothers.

"You're still? I didn't think… with you being in the lab and then on the streets…" Bucky stammered.

"No, Bucky. There are some things nobody could force on me. Tonight was the closest I've ever come."

"I'm sorry, Sophie. We shouldn't have let you go on your own," Steve said.

"This is supposed to be a secure facility. How could either of you know this would happen? Don't go there."

They went quiet on me, so I decided to change the subject.

"I talked to Dad about all of this. He finally gave in. He just told me any missions I go on would have to be followed with time off to visit the rest of the family."

"So he won't be pissed that you join us when you turn eighteen?" Steve said.

"No. He's scared, but not mad."

"He'll go back to retirement?" Bucky asked.

"I don't think that's going to happen before I turn eighteen. Until then I think he's going to go back and forth."

"I'm glad you finally worked this out with him," Steve said.

"Me too. Now I don't feel like my birthday is a looming deadline of a major fight to come with him."

 **Barton's POV:**

"Coulson? I thought I'd be reporting to Fury," I said entering the office.

"Considering the nature of the situation and your strained relationship with Fury I convinced him it would be best if you reported to me for the time being, like old times."

"Fine by me."

"So, tell me what happened tonight, Clint."

"Sophie said she'd be gone for five minutes, to drop our bags at our quarters before coming back to the party. She was gone for nearly twenty when I finally convinced the team I needed to go look for her. They insisted on coming with me."

"Where'd you look for her first?"

"I went to our quarters, in case she got distracted by something, but she wasn't there, so I grabbed my bow and quiver. Tony asked J.A.R.V.I.S. to track her movements in the facility after she left the quarters."

"What happened next?"

"J.A.R.V.I.S. reported she had been in the lab and then stopped suddenly in the hallway and wound up in a service area. I took off like a bat out of hell, Coulson. I was all the way down the hall, but I could see he had ripped her clothes and was unzipping his pants. I knocked an arrow and let it go, continuing to run until I got to her, where I wrapped her in my jacket. That's when she blacked out on me."

"How is she, Clint?"

"She woke up not long before Steve came to ask me to come give my report. She's coherent and remembers. And she's calling me Dad, Phil. She's never done that before this incident."

"Any injuries that will last?"

"No. Most of the injuries are gone. Her vitals are even basically back to normal already."

"Incredible. Anyone else would still be in a coma."

"I know. This is one time, it's a good thing Sophie is different."

"Who's with her now?"

"Steve and Bucky volunteered to stay with her until I can back to her. Why?"

"Because we need to talk about what happened between you and Fury, too, Clint."

"Really, Coulson? Now? My daughter just nearly got raped and is still in medical."

"I know and I'm sorry, but I'm not always here so I couldn't do it sooner."

"Fine."

"What happened with you and Fury?"

I explained everything that happened.

"And you punched him?"

"Yes."

"I'm not going to put it into place now, but I have no choice but to suspend you. But, seeing as how Sophie isn't going to want to leave the base right now, we'll just leave it as the next time you go back to Iowa, you're staying for two weeks, one on your schedule, the other for your suspension," Coulson said to me. "However, right now, your daughter needs you and I'm not going to separate the two of you, so go be a father."

"Thank you, Phil. For everything you've done for me."

I left the room ran into Nat.

"How's she doing?"

"She's a fighter. I think she'll be okay."

"I'm glad we found her before things got any worse."

"So am I."

"Go, I have to see Coulson."

I walked back to medical and found Stark talking to Sophie.

"What do you mean you haven't told Legolas all the awesome stuff I gave you for Christmas yet?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

Sophie groaned.

"Oh, hey Barton. I was just asking Sophie why she didn't tell you what I got her for Christmas."

"Didn't you give her the bow and quiver like mine?"

"That's all you told him about?" Stark asked Sophie, who sunk down in her bed. "There's more. I gave her a laptop, a wireless printer, a tablet, and a car, because if she's going to be working with me she needs more than that one computer in your quarters."

"TONY! She doesn't even have her license!"

"No, but she has her permit. We really need to work on her getting her license now. She is almost eighteen."

I groaned this time and wished that Steve had his shield with him, so I could beat Tony upside his head… Or maybe just take it off.

"Go away, Stark. I'm too tired to deal with this right now."

"Fine, Legolas. We'll talk more tomorrow."

Steve and Bucky went to leave. I stopped them.

 **Sophie's POV:**

"Wait, you two," Dad said to Steve and Bucky. "I need to talk to all three of you."

They came back to my side.

"What is it?"

"I just finished reporting to Coulson, about the events of tonight and what happened the night we rescued Bucky between me and Fury."

"What's wrong, Barton?" Steve asked.

"They're not doing it this week, but next week when I go home, I have to stay there for two weeks," Dad said to us. "I'm sorry, Sophie."

"Don't apologize. I probably would have set him on fire," I said.

"Steve, Bucky, I need you to promise to keep her safe while I'm gone. I think she trusts the two of you more than anyone else here at this point, so I'm putting my trust where she has. Please, especially after what happened tonight, keep her safe."

"Don't worry, Barton," Bucky said. "When you go back to the farmhouse she usually crashes in our quarters. She'll be with us. We'll keep her safe."

Dad nodded and they left.

At the end of the week, I was in the hangar to see Dad. It was harder to say good-bye to him knowing he wasn't allowed back for the two weeks. He hugged me one last time and got on the Quinjet with Tony, who was flying him home because he needed to go home for a while himself.

"So, Sophie," Bucky said holding up car keys, with a grin on his face. "you wanna take your car for a spin?"

"Buck, she's not licensed," Steve said.

"No, but _we_ are and she has her permit, so _technically_ she can drive."

Steve groaned knowing he just lost the fight. I grinned and we got into my car. Bucky gave me the keys and talked me through getting out of the facility.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen:**

 **Sophie's POV:**

It had been a week since Dad had left the facility. Bucky and I were training together. Neither of us noticed Hill and Coulson standing in the room.

"Sophie, have you given any more thought to our offer?" asked Hill.

"I have, but it won't matter until I turn eighteen."

"Nobody told the two of us how well you work together," said Coulson.

"Bucky and I have been training together since we met. He figured my choice was made, it would be best to prepare me."

"It's impressive. I saw what Rogers looked like after his fight with you, Barnes. Are you holding back on her?" asked Hill.

"No," Bucky said with a slight laugh. "As much as you might think, I don't. She can handle it, so I train her at my best."

"Even more impressive. We may have two very valuable assets here," Hill said to Coulson.

"New Strike Team?" Coulson asked Hill.

"Um, we're still standing here. Unless you're going to explain what you're talking about, maybe this is a conversation best left to when you're alone," I said.

"You're right, Sophie. We'll be observing the two of you between now and your eighteenth birthday. When you make your decision, we'll explain what I'm talking about," Coulson said to me before grabbing Hill and excusing them.

"Are you wondering what the hell they were talking about?" Bucky asked me.

"Definitely. Maybe we should go to Natasha?"

Bucky nodded so we grabbed our things and hit the showers. After cleaning up, we found Natasha training the others. We waited patiently for her to finish.

"Hey, what are you two up to?" Natasha asked me.

"Looking for answers," Bucky replied.

"About what?" Natasha asked.

"Something Coulson said to Hill when the two of them saw us training together. They said we may be valuable assets and brought up something about a new strike team. What would they be talking about?"

Natasha pulled us outside and told us to meet her in her car. When we did we went into town, where we couldn't be monitored. Only when Natasha was sure that we weren't followed did she start to speak.

"Sophie, your father and I made up one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top strike teams, Strike Team Delta, until not long before we joined the Avengers," Natasha explained in Russian. "The S.H.I.E.L.D. strike teams are more than a tactical unit. It can be deep-cover espionage. They paired Barton and I together after he refused to kill me."

"You think they might want to make me and Sophie the new strike team?" Bucky asked in Russian.

"Yes, and if they have seen the way the two of you have worked together, it would make sense. You would make an unstoppable team. But Barton isn't going to like this. He's not thrilled she wants to be an Avenger. How do you think he'll react to her taking up black ops?"

"We've got time to figure this out. Natasha, don't tell Dad. Please. Not only because I don't know what I'm getting mixed in here, but I have a feeling this is one of the 'shoot the messenger' type situations," I told her continuing the conversation in Russian. "Bucky, we'll continue our training. There is no need to stress what they are or are not considering because they already know nothing will come of it before I turn eighteen. I think the best thing the two of us can do is just keep things normal for us until we have a reason not to."

"Sophie," Natasha said to me, "your father is worried about you becoming an Avenger. The life he told you about, where you'd be in constant danger, looking over your shoulder for an enemy out to kill you, that is the kind of life you'd live in strike. Just think about that."

"I will, Natasha. I promise. I'm not rushing into anything, but unless they officially approach us with this, there's nothing we can do. At least now, thanks to you, we won't be blindsided about what they'll be asking us to do if they do ask us to do this when I join."

Natasha nodded at me in agreement. We ordered lunch and hung out until it was time to go back to the facility. When we got back to the facility I went to the lab, which I was running on my own in Tony's absence. I drew a fresh vial of blood from my arm and took a few drops to put under the microscope, putting the rest in the fridge under my experiment number.

I was working on isolating the healing factor in my blood to see if I could synthetically produce it for missions in case of injury in the field. I was a long way from done, but I worked on it whenever I could. Rogers walked in and saw that I was testing blood.

"Sophie, whose blood are you looking at?"

"Mine."

"What are you doing?"

I explained my experiment. He seemed a little upset.

"You're talking about risking making every member of the team enhanced, Sophie."

"No, I'm not, Steve. I'm trying to isolate the healing factor to make it artificially so that it can be used to make injuries heal quickly in the field. I'm not talking about exposing any of the team to my actual DNA. I just want to synthetically produce this to see if it would make a viable healing agent in the field where we don't have access to medical facilities."

"Ideally, how would it work, then?"

"Ideally, if I could get it to work, each team member would carry a vial with them on missions. If they get hurt, they would spread it over the wound, and hopefully it would increase the regeneration process of their tissue."

"And it wouldn't be a permanent reaction?"

"No, ideally, it would only stay active until either the wound closed and there was no need for regeneration or at the very least the wound was no longer fatal."

"And you can make it stop after?"

"There are lots of ways to make something living die after a certain amount of time. Yes, I could make sure, while creating a synthetic blend, that it would not be permanent."

"Just be careful with what you work on, Sophie."

"Projects like this, that can be weaponized, I keep the data with me and in a safe that can only be opened with my biometrics. The blood is never labeled as mine and without information on the experiment it's linked to, nobody has interest in a vial of blood in a lab."

"How's it coming?"

"Slow. I'm still working on all of Stark's projects while he's gone, doing my schoolwork, and training, so it doesn't leave a lot of time for personal projects. Maybe when Tony comes back I'll have a little more time to work on it."

"What does he have you working on?"

"For one, I have to do checks of The Vision every day, make sure that he's still functional and not turning into Ultron 2.0."

"Good to know he's considered that. But Vision is good."

"I know that. I think Tony does too. But after accidentally making a program set on global-annihilation? I think he wants to be sure. The Vision doesn't seem to mind. He's actually pleasant when he comes in at night for me to check him."

"Why haven't you asked me or Bucky for help on this?"

"The fewer people who know what I'm doing the better. Besides, you don't seem like you really trust everyone here yourself, Steve. I get the feeling you would prefer I keep this research out of Stark and Fury's hands."

"You're right. I'm not sure what they would do, but I'm sure it wouldn't be what you meant this for."

"I will ultimately need you and Bucky to help with this, but not until I figure out how to synthesize it. It will work one way on someone without advanced healing, but on us I would need to see how it would work. That is when I will ask for your help."

"I'll keep your secret, Sophie. If this works, it can ultimately be used to do a lot of good."

"That's my goal, Steve," I said giving him a small smile.

"Don't forget, you're meeting Bucky and me for dinner at seven. It's six already."

"Can we push it until eight? I'm in the middle of this and it's not something I can walk away from."

"Fine, eight. See you then, Sophie," Steve said as he walked out of the lab, leaving me to my work.

At seven fifteen I was walking out of the lab, heading back to my quarters. By the time I showered, changed, and got to where I was meeting the guys, I was ten minutes early. I decided to call Dad.

"Hey, Sophie," Dad said, picking up on the second ring.

"I'm not interrupting dinner, am I?" I asked, suddenly unsure.

"No, we're just cleaning up. How are you doing?"

"I'm okay, just a long day, getting ready to go out to dinner with Steve and Bucky. How are you holding up? How are Laura and the kids?"

"They're good. They miss you already."

"I miss them, too. How are you?" I asked him again.

"I'm okay, Sophie. I just miss you and wish I at least had the option to go back."

"So do I, but I understand why you did what you did. It's only an extra week."

"I know, but after all you've been through, I wish I had the option to be with you."

"I get it, Dad. And I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm okay. I miss you, but I'm okay. Stop worrying about me so much. I'm tougher than I look."

He gave a small laugh.

"I can't wait to get back there."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Is it wrong for me to run a genetic experiment without anyone knowing?"

"What are you talking about?"

I explained my healing factor synthetic project to him.

"Technically, no. You're not testing on anyone or using anyone without consent, but be careful, Sophie."

"I am. Data is kept locked up biometrically and my blood doesn't get labeled. Plus, any blood I use is drawn from me, so I'm not actually doing anything that will affect me physically."

"Still, be careful. I don't want to see anything bad happen."

"I will be, Dad," I said as I heard Steve and Bucky approaching. "Can I call you tomorrow? Steve and Bucky are coming to take me to dinner."

"Sure. Have fun. I love you, Sophie."

"I love you too, Dad."

I hung up the phone as Steve and Bucky reached me.

"Was that Barton?" Bucky asked.

"Yeah. I wanted to ask him about something and check in."

"Not what we talked about with Black Widow earlier, right?" Bucky asked in Russian.

"No," I reassured him.

"What are you two talking about?" Steve asked.

"Nothing important, Steve," Bucky answered. "At least nothing that's important right now. If it becomes important, we'll tell you."

"Alright," Steve said cautiously.

It was clear Steve was a friend to both of us, especially Bucky, but he had no disillusions as to the things we'd done together before we decided we wanted to help people. Steve kept in mind why both Bucky and I were trying to redeem ourselves.

 **Barton's POV:**

I was finally getting to return to the base and to Sophie. I was relieved. I loved being at home with Laura, Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel, but I didn't feel right leaving Sophie after what had happened. We had a little over a month until her birthday and we both knew she was going to join the Avengers, the question was how long I would stay with the team once she did. Until we had that answer, I didn't want to miss any more time with her than I had to.

When I got the base, Sophie was in the hangar waiting for me. She ran into my arms and my anxieties slipped away. It wasn't that I didn't trust Steve, Bucky, or Natasha to look after her while I was gone, but it was a relief to be able to hold her again and see for myself that she was fine.

"Welcome back, Dad."

"Thanks, Sophie. I missed you."

"I missed you, too. But I am relieved you and Stark are back. You because I missed having you around, Stark because it's a lot of work to do everything I do and what he does on top of it, you know?" she asked, laughing.

"You think you could handle it, Katniss?" Stark asked, coming out of the Quinjet, using her new nickname.

She stuck her tongue out at him and I laughed.

"Damn straight. I did everything you do plus my college coursework, my training, still had time for a social life, and more."

"Sure you did. I bet the lab is trashed."

"Go check it out," Sophie said to Stark and he left. "Let's go back to our quarters, Dad. He's probably going to spend the next two hours looking for any sign that I messed up. He won't find it, but he'll try."

She laughed and we started towards our quarters.

"So how are your classes going, Sophie?"

"They're fine. They're too easy for me. Honestly, I'm kinda bored."

"So why don't you take harder classes?"

"Pre-requisites and core requirements. I need to take these to advance to harder classes. I'm just glad that I'm allowed to do normal sciences because I have the lab here to run experiments."

"Well, I'm sure that you'll finish these fast enough to move on to more interesting classes. What did you, Steve, and Bucky do while I was gone?"

"Lots of movie nights, going into town to hang out, and training. Steve knows about the project I told you about."

"Why'd you tell him?"

"He walked in on me testing the blood. He got the wrong idea, so I explained what I was actually doing and why I hadn't told anyone yet. I called you after I talked to him to make sure I wasn't messing up. I guess growing up partially in a lab, I don't really know, sometimes," Sophie said, looking down at the floor.

"Hey, that's what a father is for, Sophie. To guide their children to do the right thing, especially when they're not sure what the right thing is. You had it rough growing up, nobody can blame you for not being sure which way north is on the moral compass, but you asked for help. There's nothing wrong there. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

We got back to our quarters and I grabbed my bow and quiver.

"You wanna go to the range?"

Sophie smirked at me before running into her room. She came back out with her bow and quiver.

"Let's go."

We spent over an hour at the range. It was great to spend the time relaxing with Sophie. I missed it in the two weeks I was at the farmhouse. I had taught Cooper to shoot, but we mostly worked on building and remodeling things together. Laura and I agreed we didn't want to make this a major part of his life and risk him losing part of his childhood. Sophie was never really a child and I never knew her as one, which I regretted deeply, but I liked having a daughter I could share this with.

Sophie and I were sitting on the floor of the range after we had collected our arrows. We were drinking water.

"Have you talked to Laura about all of this yet?"

"Which part?"

"You going back into retirement."

I put my water bottle down.

"Yeah. I did."

"And?"

"And she told me the same thing you did. That distance isn't going to change the fact that I'm your father. She told me that smothering you might make you come to resent me in the long run."

"Maybe," she said laughing.

"She understands me staying a little after you turn eighteen, to make sure you are adjusting to the team, but she agrees with you. You'll be an adult. You've been basically on your own for years. And we can keep in touch without me being here. So, she's on your side that I should go back into retirement after you turn eighteen."

"How long will you stay after my birthday?"

"A month? I won't go back to the farmhouse for that time period, but at the end of it, provided you're adjusting to your role here, I'll go back into retirement."

"Okay, Dad. I think this is good."

"You trying to get rid of me?" I asked, laughing.

"No. I just think it's good that we're talking this out and now we have a plan. You know my intentions as far as all of this when I turn eighteen and I know what I need to do in order to make you feel better about me working. And now, I know how long you will stay to help me adjust before you go back to your retirement. We know how much longer we'll have before things change and we know to make the most of the time. I think it's good that you go back into retirement. If you hadn't run that DNA test on me, you would've gone back into retirement months ago. Things would be very different. I know you want to be here with me, but Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel need you actively more than I do. I'm old enough that a video chat, a phone call, and visits are good enough to keep our relationship good," she said before looking at the floor. "The visits are all I had with Mom until she died after I got out of the lab."

"How did you visit her, Sophie?"

"The portals. I knew how to control them, so I would portal in when there was almost nobody in the lab, spend time with her. I tried to get her to leave with me so many times, but she wouldn't," she replied, tears starting to slip down her cheeks.

"Why wouldn't she go with you? She left you on your own. Why didn't she tell you about me?"

"I guess she thought the same thing you did. She always talked about you in the past tense. I'm pretty sure she believed you died the night you thought she died. And she wouldn't come with me because she said she was protecting me."

"How was leaving you on your own protecting you?"

"She said that nobody knew for sure if I survived my escape attempt when I was a kid. Her staying in the lab, it kept them guessing. If she came with me, she said they'd know I was still out there. Not only would they hunt her down, but she said they'd hunt me down and bring me back to the lab to do who knows what. Mom stayed there, was tortured until she died, because she didn't want to risk them realizing that I was still alive. She wanted to give me a chance at a life outside of the lab."

Sophie wouldn't look at me, but she was crying harder now. I pulled her closer to me, my heart breaking. Not only for all the pain she was in, but because of Anya. I loved her so much and to know she went through all of this to protect our daughter made her absence in my life hurt even more.

"Your mother was a beautiful and caring person, Sophie. And she obviously cared about you more than anyone else in this world. We are both lucky that we had her in our lives."

"Do you miss her, Dad?"

"Yes. I locked that part of my life up for a long time, but when I found that picture when we were looking for you, the feelings all came back like it was yesterday. And the more I get to know you, I see her in you. Now, knowing why she did what she did, leaving you on your own to protect you, it makes me love and miss her even more than I did. I didn't think that was possible, but I do."

"How did you fall in love with Mom?"

"Come on," I said to her, nudging her off of me and offering my hand to her. "I want to show you something."

We went back to our quarters and I dug through my duffel bag. Finding what I was looking for, I sat down on the couch with Sophie. I handed it to her.

"A scrapbook?"

"My past, Sophie. Look through it."

She looked through the scrapbook that Anya had the night she told me she loved me, the night I realized I loved her. It wasn't easy to sit with her while she did it.

"You worked in a carnival?"

"Yes, I did. When I was younger. It's where I learned to shoot."

"But I don't understand, Dad. What does this have to do with how you fell in love with Mom?"

"Sophie, I never thought I _could_ love anyone. Growing up the way I did, basically on my own, I didn't think I could fall in love, but then I met your mother. After she finally convinced me to let her in enough to show her this and told me she loved me in spite of the fact that I had been a carnie that I realized that I loved her more than I loved myself. It's why when I thought I lost her I didn't care if I died."

"So this is a symbol of you and Mom falling in love?"

"In a way, yes. If I hadn't given in to Anya, hadn't shown her this, I don't know that I would have realized that I had already fallen in love with her."

Sophie was looking at the pages with a new fascination. The scrapbook was something that her mother touched before the lab.

"Do you think Mom loved me even though I was born the way I am, Dad?"

I pulled her to my side.

"Sophie, if she could love a messed up carnie, there's nothing that could keep her from loving you."

She hugged the scrapbook to her chest.

"Do you want to hold onto that for a bit, Sophie?"

"Can I?" She asked, excited.

"Go ahead. Just don't mention this to Laura, Cooper or Lila. They've never seen it."

"Why not?"

"It was part of my life with your mother. And I locked all of that away years ago. I dug this out when I was at the farmhouse for the first time in years. Nobody has seen this since your mother."

"I won't tell them. It will be our secret, Dad."


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen:**

 **Sophie's POV:**

The five weeks until my eighteenth birthday flew by. Laura asked Dad to bring me to the farmhouse for my birthday, so I could see my brothers and sister. I compromised with them. I didn't want to miss celebrating Bucky and me celebrating our birthday together, so I convinced them that I would stay at base for my eighteenth birthday and Dad, and I would spend the weekend after my birthday with the family, since my birthday fell in the middle of the week anyway.

"Happy 99th Birthday, Bucky!" I shouted at him, jumping on his bed and quickly ducking out of the way of his metal arm.

"Happy Birthday, Sophie," he laughed when he missed me.

I crawled into his bed and snuggled him. Since he got his memories back, this wasn't unusual. He'd just pull me to him, and cuddle me back.

"Are we sleeping in and skipping training?" I asked him.

"No, you think I'm gonna go easy on you now? You're an adult now, Soph," he said with an evil laugh.

I tried to get up and he held me down with his metal arm.

"No fair!" I shouted.

Steve ran into the room.

"What are you two up to now?"

"He's plotting and he's got me pinned!" I shouted.

Steve laughed.

"Happy birthday, guys," he said, still laughing and shaking his head. "Do you guys want to go into town for breakfast?"

"Sure, just get him to let go of me," I said squirming.

They both laughed and Bucky finally let me go. I waited in their common area for them as they got dressed. We took my car into town and had an awesome breakfast. After breakfast, when we got back to the facility, Stark was waiting at the entrance of the garage with someone I didn't know.

"Sophie, stop the car and come on," Steve said.

I did what I was told. I followed Steve and Bucky to Stark. They nodded at him and left me alone with him.

"So, Katniss, you're finally eighteen! Happy Birthday!" Stark exclaimed. "I wanted to give you my present, but it's kinda time sensitive, so it has to be now."

"What are you talking about, Stark?" I asked him.

"Are you Sophie Francis Holden?" the woman standing next to Stark asked me.

"Yes, and you are?"

"Mary Jacobs, New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. I'm here to administer your road test. It's highly unusual to do it in such a manner," she started, looking at Stark then back to me, "but Mr. Stark insisted your test needed to be administered here."

I was in shock. I nodded at her.

"Let's get in the car."

I followed her into the car, buckled up, checked my mirrors, and started the ignition. For the next thirty minutes, I followed her directions, making turns and other maneuvers. Finally, we got back to the facility.

"You passed, Ms. Holden. Congratulations," she said, handing me a paper license. "Happy birthday."

I was still in shock, but I got out of the car and ran to Stark, throwing my arms around him.

"Thank you, Tony!"

"Hey, I got you the car, didn't you think I'd make sure you had your license, too?"

"I can't believe you did this, but thank you!"

"We'll talk later. I have to drive Ms. Jacobs back to her job. Happy Birthday, Katniss," he said kissing my cheek and walking away.

I drove my car into the garage and went to find Bucky and Steve. I had just found them when Fury walked into the training room behind me.

"Barnes, Holden, I'd like to speak to you in my office, please."

"Nick, it's their birthday. Can't this wait until tomorrow?"

"She's an adult now, Cap."

"It's alright, Steve. Bucky and I will come find you when we're done."

We followed Fury to his office. When we were all seated, he got directly to the point.

"So, Holden, I've been forced to wait until today to get your decision. What is your decision about joining the Avengers?"

"Well, Director, I have decided to accept your offer."

"Good to know. Now you already know that Barnes has accepted a similar offer."

I nodded.

"On the recommendation from Agents Hill and Coulson I have a dual assignment for both of you."

Bucky and I looked at each other. We knew where this was going.

"You will both be part of the Avengers, you will be support to the team in situations where they need extra man and firepower. In addition, on a more covert level, the two of you are going to become my Strike Team Echo. Do you understand what that entails?"

I nodded at him again.

"You've done your homework then. Good. It saves me the time of explaining what will be expected of the two of you on your missions. Now, to introduce you to your handler," he started and the door to his office opened.

"Sophie, Bucky, I look forward to working with you."

"Natasha?" I asked in shock.

"Well, when I found out that Nick here had assigned the two of you to become the new Strike Team I volunteered. Clint is my best friend and you're his daughter. I'm going to make sure that you are prepared for what you are being sent into and that you are safe. If you're doing this, I'm going to make sure you get through it. Welcome to the teams," she said smiling at me.

"Thank you, Nat."

"The three of you leave on Monday when you come back from Iowa, Sophie. You have your first mission."

"Already?"

"Yup. Ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

"Good. The details are in this file, but the basics are you're going back to the lab where you first crossed paths with the Avengers, Sophie. Someone broke in recently. Files on your mother went missing."

My stomach dropped.

"But all the scientists involved in the experiments on my mom are dead."

"Exactly. So who knew about your mother to go looking for those files? They were the only files missing. When we got the call from Interpol they wanted to question you, but I was able to give them copies of the security footage that showed them that you've been here and clear you."

"Thank you for clearing me."

"Well, you didn't do this. But you're going to help us figure out who did."

I nodded at him.

"Security cameras?" Bucky asked.

"Short-circuited," Fury replied.

He looked at me. We both knew that happened when I used my abilities to enter a place.

"Does my dad know about my assignments?" I asked.

"No, that's up to you to tell him," Fury replied. "You're expected back here by eight on Monday morning. The three of you leave for Glasgow at nine."

He dismissed us and Natasha pulled Bucky and I into another room.

"We need to be careful what we report back to Fury. Sophie, is there anyone else you can think of that would know about your mother?"

"No."

She looked like what she was about to say pained her.

"What is it, Natasha?" Bucky asked her.

"Are you sure you're her only child?"

"She never said anything about another kid."

"Alright. I'll see what I can dig up while you're in Iowa. The two of you, enjoy your birthday, it might be the last day you get to relax for a while."

Natasha walked away and we went to find Steve and tell him what happened with Fury.

 **Barton's POV:**

When Sophie walked back into our quarters I could tell something was going on, but she didn't want to talk about it.

"What do you want to talk about, then?"

"Stark brought someone here for me to take my road test. I got my license," she said, trying to sound excited, but clearly her mind was somewhere else.

"That's great. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, Dad."

"I want to give you my gift."

I went into my room and came out with the box. She opened it and started pulling things from it. There were copies of pictures of me and Anya from before she was taken. I also included some of the stuffed animals I had given her and the necklace, which she only wore when we were out together. It was a bow with an arrow crossing it connecting the two sides of the necklace and holding the bow to it. Finally, at the bottom was the scrapbook."

"Dad, this is your's."

"It's something that is a link to your mother. I want you to have it. All of these things are things are links to her. The necklace is something I gave her and she wore anytime she didn't have work and we went out. I gave her the stuffed animals. These were her things and I think it's time for you to have these pieces of her."

"Thank you, Dad."

She came over and hugged me. We stayed relaxing in our quarters for a while before we had to get ready. As a team, we were all going out to celebrate Bucky and Sophie's birthdays.

"Here, Sophie," I said, handing her another gift.

"What's this, Dad?"

"Well, we're going out to a nice restaurant tonight. This is from Laura, Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel."

She opened the box and saw the deep purple dress with matching shoes and purse that were in there. Laura even included stockings. She looked from the box to me.

"It's beautiful, but why?"

"Laura figured you didn't have a lot of occasions to celebrate and figured you might want a new dress for the occasion. Turning eighteen, Bucky's birthday, your new job, it's a big day for you."

"Remind me to thank her, Cooper and Lila tomorrow. You'll have to take pictures of me in this to show them this weekend," she said hugging me. "And I want you to put Mom's necklace on me."

"After you get changed. Go on."

Twenty minutes later, we were both dressed. I took Anya's necklace and fastened it around Sophie's neck. It reminded me so much of Anya.

"What are you going to wear over your dress?"

"The leather jacket Steve gave me for Christmas."

I gave her a look.

"What? It's black. It matches," she said smiling.

I laughed.

"Come on."

"Want to ride with me?"

"Sure," I replied, partially relieved she wasn't suggesting a portal.

 **Sophie's POV:**

I woke up and looked at my phone. It was eleven in the morning. My alarm had been shut off! I got up and dressed quickly. When I got to the living room, Dad was there.

"Sophie, we need to talk," he said to me.

"Later, Dad, I seriously overslept."

"You have the day off. We're leaving for the farmhouse at two thirty. I turned off your alarms."

"What? Why?"

"I got a call from Natasha this morning that you and Bucky have the day off and that you need to report back here at eight on Monday. When were you going to tell me?"

"In the Quinjet?"

"What's going on? I thought we promised no more secrets."

I sighed and sat down on the couch next to him.

"You're really not going to like this, which is why I wanted to hold off on telling you. Birthdays have never meant much to me, but it seemed to mean so much to you to make a big deal. Other than my seventeenth birthday, my birthdays consisted of me being in a lab or on my own. Last night was perfect and I just wanted to wait until preferably Cooper and Lila were in bed tomorrow, but I knew I would probably end up telling you today. I just didn't want to make you angry."

"What is it, Sophie?"

"You knew Fury was going to grab me for my answer as soon as I was eighteen."

"Right."

"He grabbed me and Bucky yesterday when I went to tell him and Steve about my license. I gave him my license and he gave us our assignments."

"You have separate assignments?"

"No, Dad. We have dual assignments. We've been assigned as support to the Avengers, but we've also been made into a strike team. To protect me, Natasha volunteered to be our handler. And we need to be back here at eight on Monday because we leave for Glasgow on our first mission at nine."

"You can't be part of a strike team, Sophie!"

"It's my assignment, Dad. Bucky and I suspected it was coming since your suspension, but we didn't want to say anything to anyone until we had confirmation. We got that yesterday."

"What do you mean, you suspected since the suspension?"

I explained what happened with Hill and Coulson when they saw Bucky training with me. I told him we went to Natasha and I found out that he was part of a strike team with her under Coulson. He seemed pissed off.

"You kept this from me?!"

"Dad, I only did it because I didn't want to get you worked up without reason. We weren't sure they would do this, we only suspected it, and I didn't want to fight with you over a suspicion. If I knew for sure, I would have told you."

"What's your mission in Glasgow, Sophie?"

I told him the mission.

"This is tied to your mother?"

I nodded.

"I should be doing this. Natasha and I should go. Why are they sending a rookie team?"

"Dad, I can do this. They're sending me because I'm familiar with the work and the people involved. Plus, they think it's an enhanced that did this. Whoever broke in shorted the system the way I do."

Dad got up and grabbed his bow and quiver.

"I need time to think. I'll meet you back here at one thirty to get ready to leave."

And with that, Dad left. I left the room, looking for Bucky. I found him in his quarters. He saw I was upset as soon as he saw me. He took hold of my hand, leading me into his room and just held me as I vented about what happened.

 **Barton's POV:**

It was one forty five and Sophie wasn't back. I was worried. The last time she disappeared, she nearly got raped. I called Stark.

"What do you need, Legolas?"

"I need you to track Sophie. She was supposed to meet me in our quarters fifteen minutes ago. I'm worried. We got into an argument and I walked away from her. Now she's late. Last time she disappeared, Tony…"

"Hang on."

I could hear him asking J.A.R.V.I.S. to locate Sophie on the other end of the line.

"Barton, don't flip out, but Sophie and Barnes are in his bedroom."

I hung up on Stark and called Steve.

"What is it, Barton?"

"I need you to meet me at your quarters to let me in. Sophie is late and Stark just told me she's in Barnes' bedroom with him."

"I'm sure it's nothing, but I'll be right over."

"It better be nothing, Steve. I can't handle any more surprises right now."

I hung up and made my way over to Steve and Barnes' quarters. Steve was waiting outside for me. We went in together and we opened Bucky's door carefully. What we saw calmed me down. Sophie was leaning on Bucky's chest, both fully clothed, and both sleeping. I felt guilty for thinking bad thoughts and went to go in and wake her.

"Don't. If you cross that threshold, he'll wake up and attack. Trust me," Steve said, pulling out his phone, dialing. "He's not as deep a sleeper as he looks."

Bucky's cell phone started ringing and he looked around, saw that we were standing at his door and gently woke Sophie. As she got herself together, Bucky came outside and sent Steve inside with her, closing the door behind Steve.

"Barton, I told you I'd help you keep her safe, but I'm not okay with you upsetting her the way you did. We decided not to tell anyone about the strike team situation until it became a situation that needed to be dealt with. I didn't even tell Steve."

"Steve's not your father."

Bucky laughed.

"Funny. Understand that she has become a bigger priority to me than basically anything in the time I've known her. We've had our ups and downs, but at the core, I've always had her back, looked out for her. Yes, she made you a promise, but what was she supposed to do? Get you all worked up and pissed off right after you finally came to an understanding about her agreeing to join the team about something that she wasn't even sure would happen? You haven't even known her for a year, Barton, and I know both of you are trying to get to know each other, and I know you care about her, but getting her upset like that and walking out is not okay. She waited a day, Barton. A _day_ to tell you once she knew for sure. And that was so you could still make a big deal out of her birthday like you wanted to. All of that yesterday that was done for us? We let you guys do that for all of you. Birthdays aren't a big deal to us. So maybe you should consider that she held out on you for that extra day so you could be a father and give her a birthday like you would your other kids."

Bucky walked away from me and Sophie walked out of his room and right out of the quarters. I found her back in our quarters, packing. She had headphones on, making it clear she didn't want to talk, so I had a lot of time to think about what Bucky said to me. Was I overreacting? Or taking it out on the wrong person?

When we got to the hangar, Bucky was there. I was confused.

"He comes or I stay," Sophie said to me. "He's my family and right now, I need him."

I didn't know what to say. I just nodded. The two of them got on the Quinjet and I followed. I got us on course then called Laura.

"Hey, Honey," I said when she picked up.

"What's wrong, Clint?"

"Sophie and I got into an argument this morning and I walked away to calm myself down. It upset her pretty badly."

"Is she still coming?"

"Yes, but not alone. She's bringing her friend James with her. She said if I didn't let him come she wouldn't come."

"Is he her boyfriend?"

"No. He's more like another brother. But you should know he's enhanced like she is. And his left arm is a metal cybernetic arm."

"What?"

"His left arm was amputated and replaced with a metal cybernetic arm."

"What if it malfunctions around the kids, Clint?"

"Well, Sophie designed it. I'm sure she'd be able to fix it."

"Is he dangerous?"

"Not without reason. It'll be fine. He's very protective of her and she's protective of him. When I upset her this morning she went right to him. He lectured me about upsetting her."

"You let a kid lecture you?"

"He's not a kid. Technically he's twenty eight."

"What do you mean, 'technically?'"

"I mean, he's like Steve. He was Steve's best friend in before World War II, Laura. Yesterday was technically his 99th birthday, but he's still twenty eight because of experiments done on him when his unit was captured by H.Y.D.R.A."

"This is a lot to take in, Clint. Just make sure that our kids are safe."

"I will, Laura. I promise. We'll be there in a few hours. We're already in the air."

"I'll see you then. I love you, Clint."

"I love you, too."

It was an automatic response, but I was finding it harder to mean it since Sophie came into my life and Anya was on my mind so often.

 **Sophie's POV:**

Cooper and Lila pounced on me as soon as they saw me outside. After a minute they noticed Bucky at my side. They climbed off of me.

"Cooper, Lila, this is my friend James. I call him Bucky. He's like an adopted brother to me."

"Hi guys," Bucky said.

Lila stared up at him. He made her look even shorter than she was.

"So how'd you meet my sister?" Cooper asked.

"After her mom died we met. I kinda just fell into the habit of keeping an eye out for her to try to keep her out of trouble then spending more time with her to teach her how to take care of herself."

"Why does she call you Bucky?" Lila asked.

I laughed.

"It's a nickname," Bucky said.

"How old are you?" Cooper asked him, looking at him suspiciously.

I started laughing.

"Older than I look," Bucky said with a smile.

I started cracking up and Dad called us inside. I introduced Laura to Bucky and she showed him the room he would sleep in. When he came back downstairs, he was in a long sleeved t-shirt and still wearing his fingerless gloves.

At dinner, Bucky took the gloves off and that was a whole new round of questions from Lila and Cooper. Dad limited how far they were allowed to push, but they started playing fifty questions with me when Bucky told them I made the arm for him. I gave him a dirty look and he smirked at me.

After dinner Bucky and I played with Nathaniel, Lila and Cooper while Dad and Laura cleaned up. When they finally took them to put them down, Bucky and I went outside to walk.

"Do you feel any better, Sophie?"

"Yeah. Thanks for being here, Bucky. It means a lot. I don't think I could've come out here with Dad being mad at me. Not alone."

"Anything for you," he said to me. "Your brother and sister are a handful."

"Yeah, but they like you. I think Cooper thinks you're my boyfriend or something from the way he was questioning you."

We both laughed.

"Are you ready for Monday?"

"As long as I have you I can face anything."

"I think your dad is worried about us. I told him he better knock his shit off with you. You didn't do anything wrong. I told him he needs to think before he reacts the way he did. I pointed out that the celebration yesterday was more for all of them than for us."

"Bucky, you didn't."

"I did. I'm sorry if I went too far."

"No. It's fine. It's the truth. I just wish he would understand I'm not trying to hide things."


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty:**

 **Barton's POV:**

Sophie and I made up after her party. Things were more peaceful between us by the time the three of us left on Sunday night. I was nervous. By the time we got back to the base, it was one in the morning. In just eight hours, she would be leaving with Natasha and Bucky on a mission, her first official mission, and I didn't know when she'd be back.

We got back to our quarters and went to bed. At six, I got her up and took her out to breakfast, the last thing I'd be able to do with her for the foreseeable future. It was a nice, uneventful experience, a last good memory to share with her before I had to let her be the adult she was.

"Take these," I said handing her three pictures. "And remember why you fight to bring more good into this world, why you fight to get home at the end of the missions."

One of the pictures was me, Laura, and the kids. The second was Bucky, Steve, and her. The last was her and Anya. She looked at them, then at me.

"I'll never forget. I'll always do my best to come back to you, Dad. I promise."

We left the restaurant and returned to base. I took her to our uniform/equipment room to gather her things. Then we went back to our quarters so I could help her pack. I showed her how to pack all the essentials in a minimum amount of luggage. At eight forty five, we made our way to the hangar.

Natasha was already there. Bucky was there with Steve. Natasha nodded at me when she saw me. I stood next to Steve. Bucky put his arm around Sophie. I knew what they were capable of, I prayed it was enough to get her through what she was walking into.

At five to nine, Fury came into the hangar, gave them final details and left. Sophie gave me a hug, then did the same to Steve. Bucky shook mine and Steve's hands. The two of them got onto the Quinjet. Natasha came over to us.

"I'll look after these two, don't worry."

"Natasha, be careful with them, they're troublemakers together when they get bored," Steve warned with a sad smile.

"And please, just bring them home alive," I said to her.

"I took this assignment for you, Clint. I'm not going to let them get killed on my watch. They'd have to take me out first, and let's face it, we all know I'm not that easy to take out," Nat said smiling a coy smile at me. "I'll check in with you two when I can."

I nodded at her and she got on the Quinjet, leaving with my daughter.

 **Sophie's POV:**

The information we gathered in Glasgow sent us to various points in Europe. Every so often, I would hack the network of one of the scientists Bucky and I killed to see if any information was stolen. Some of it was, all of it having to do with Mom.

We had been gone for over two weeks when Natasha got a call from Steve. When Bucky and I heard him on the video call, we knew something had to be seriously wrong. We went into her room.

"Steve, what's wrong?" I asked.

"Sophie! Good, you're still with Natasha and safe. We had a problem here at base. There was a security breach. It concerns you directly, Sophie."

"What are you talking about?"

"The collar and cuffs we used to restrain your powers when we first found you, Sophie. They've been stolen."

"Stolen? How?" asked Bucky.

"We don't know. The security system went down for a few minutes and when J.A.R.V.I.S. got it back up, they were gone."

"We'll be careful, Steve. I promise. Tell Dad you talked to me and I'm okay. We'll be in touch as soon as we can," I said as I walked out of the room.

In the living room of the apartment we were in I sat down, feeling my stomach fluttering. I had a really bad feeling. A few minutes later, Natasha and Bucky came outside and joined me.

"What's wrong, Sophie?" Bucky asked.

"I have an idea, and I don't like it."

"What is it?" Nat asked.

"Let's take this apart a little. Who knew that all three of us were at the Avengers' facility?"

When they didn't answer, I did.

"The people who captured Bucky in Belarus at the old Red Room facility. I don't know how they know who I am, but they're the only ones who knew I was there outside of the people there and in my family."

"Shit. She's right, Natasha."

"But how would they have found information about her?" Nat asked.

"Face recognition? When I made the kill in Glasgow, you guys put my face all over the news stating I was dangerous. It also mentioned I was wanted for multiple homicides."

"I'll call in some favors, see what intel I can get. But get ready, we're heading to Latvia to be close to be on the safe side."

We packed and got out of the apartment. When we got to Latvia, we settled in a hotel suite, with Natasha and Bucky posing as my parents. I set up my computers and started trying to track the computers that had controlled Bucky's implants. I found activity in the vicinity of where he was being held hostage a few months before. This told us that if nothing else, the people who had him were still there. Obviously, someone else was in on all of this. The following day, Nat woke me up with news.

"Sophie, my contacts got back to me with some intel. They said that there is some new activity going on in there. They have an enhanced working with them. Possibly the enhanced we're looking for."

"So we're heading in?"

"Not directly. Come outside, we'll talk over breakfast."

We sat down to breakfast.

"So what's the plan?" I asked.

"Natasha's job is passive on this mission," Bucky said. "We'll be doing the physical work. She'll be looking out for us."

"Right. I know a place, a little over a mile from the compound itself, where I can hide. If you can open a fire portal out there and leave me out there, I can keep track of you on comms and I won't be far in case of an emergency."

"I can do that, Nat. What's the rest of the plan?" I asked as I drank some juice.

"You'll open another fire portal, bringing us closer, but not inside of the building, and we work our way in. We find the intel, try to find and capture the enhanced, and get out. We make our way back to Natasha and fire portal back here to Latvia," Bucky explained. "Can you open up to four fire portals in one day?"

Could I? By myself, without a question. With passengers, I'd never opened that many in a short time.

"As long as I'm rested going in, I should be fine."

"Great. Rest today, we'll go late tonight," Nat said. "Until this is over, we're off the grid."

Off the grid. I couldn't check in Dad right before one of the most dangerous parts of our mission. I nodded at Nat and went into one of the two bedrooms and shut down all electronics before lying down.

A few hours later, Bucky came into the room and got into the bed with me. I just naturally curled up on him. It was comforting to me.

"Are you okay, Soph?" he asked me in Russian.

"I wish I could have talked to my dad one last time before we went off the grid for this, but I get why Natasha wanted to go off the grid as soon as we worked things out. I'm just worried that he's going to freak out," I replied in Russian.

"We'll be okay. You know that. You're tough, you already were, but I taught you so much. And we have one of the toughest handlers in the world. We'll be just fine. There's nothing for your dad to worry about. Let's just get some rest so we're both ready for tonight, alright?"

I nodded and we fell asleep like that. Natasha woke us up that night with dinner already in the room.

"Are the two of you ready for this?" she asked us.

"Yeah. I'm good," I said.

"I'm fine. We're ready for this," Bucky said.

"Good. Eat, get your energy up, then we'll make final preparations before we go."

We ate in silence, each of us in our own minds as we prepared for the mission. Bucky was right, he had to be. He taught me to be tougher than a normal teenager. Natasha prepared me for these kinds of missions at the base. I had already been on a rescue mission. I was semi-familiar with the terrain we were going to. We were more prepared than I thought.

Nat set the Quinjet in stealth mode and flew it to the Latvia border of Belarus. Making sure nobody could find it, I opened the first portal, to the place she wanted to watch out from. I took a few minutes to gather my strength, making sure not to rush too many portals too quickly. Bucky looked over at me.

"Whenever you're ready, Soph," he said in Russian.

I waited another few minutes then grabbed hold of him. I opened the second portal, leaving us a hundred yards from the building he had been held hostage in. Quietly, sticking to the cover of the trees, we started making our way to the building.

"Making our way to the target," I told Nat in Russian.

"Keep me updated if there is trouble," she replied.

We made it maybe twenty yards when Bucky and I heard it. There were others out there with us. We were handling them fine. Suddenly, I felt a new energy, a more dangerous one. It was moving too quickly. We dispatched the last of the enemies that had surrounded us before the new person got to us. It was a boy about my age.

"Sophie, at last," he said to me. "And you brought the soldier back! They'll be so happy!"

I realized we were duped. He opened his hand and had a fireball in it. I jumped in front of Bucky, protecting him. I absorbed the fireball myself.

"Sophie!" Bucky shouted.

"I'm fine," I said.

"You may not be for much longer, Sergeant," the enhanced said to Bucky.

I knew I shouldn't, that Bucky and everyone would be furious with me. I didn't even know how I knew I could do it, but I focused quickly and deeply on my abilities to use the portals. Just as the enhanced went to attack, I threw up a wall of fire around Bucky.

"Open the portal yourself, Bucky! Get to the rendezvous! I'm not sure how long you'll have them!"

"I won't go!"

"Go, James!"

I nodded at him and turned to take on the enhanced. Before I could do much, he clamped the bands on my wrists, partially muting my enhancements. I still fought.

"Go Bucky!"

I knew Bucky knew how to use the portal. When we met I had taught him everything I could about them because he wanted to know. The enhanced got the collar around my neck and as I saw Bucky disappear into my portal, the enhanced opened his own portal and pulled me through.

 **Barton's POV:**

I walked into the control room, having heard there was a problem on Sophie and Bucky's mission. Nat was on a video call with Steve. He looked upset.

"… it was a trap. We were lured out there."

"Where's Sophie, Nat?" I asked her.

"The enhanced's abilities are similar, but we discovered Sophie has a new ability while we were out there," Nat continued.

"What ability?" Steve asked.

"Power bestowal. She gave her portal to Barnes to get to safety."

"You left my daughter!"

"Clint, we're already working on a way to get her back," Nat said to me.

"How is Bucky?"

"Honestly? He's pissed off. She distracted the enhanced so they didn't get them both. You know how he feels about her. He's not a picnic to deal with now that she's put herself in danger for him."

"I'm coming. Where are you?"

"You'll do no such thing, Barton," Fury said from behind me.

"Excuse me?" I said.

"I said, you're not to go after them. Romanoff and Barnes are capable of handling this now that they have the variables. You are not to get involved on this mission."

"She's my daughter!"

"All the more reason that you shouldn't be getting involved."

 **Sophie's POV:**

I woke up in a cell. The familiar feel of the power restraints were tugging at my energy, but this time I was ready for it. I pulled the bobby pins out of my hair while I was curled up under the blanket in the bed. They were specialized bobby pins I had made in case of an emergency.

Taking a deep breath, knowing what I was about to do would hurt, I took the first bobby pin and stuck it in the locking mechanism on one of the bands around my wrist. When it connected with the tech in the band, it emitted a single, high-voltage shock, and the lock was disabled. I did it with the second wrist and then my neck. While they thought I was sleeping with my power restrained, I was regaining my strength and healing from shocking myself.

It was a few hours before anyone came into the room. The scientist who shot me was the one who came for me.

"Ms. Holden, nice of you to join us," he said to me in Russian.

I waited for him to get closer to me, knowing he'd be armed. When he was close enough, I grabbed his gun, my pillow and put a bullet in his brain through the pillow. It muffled the gunshot. I grabbed his keys and keycards after putting him in the bed I had been in.

I checked the clip of the gun I just took from him. Only the one round was missing. I could make that work until I could find another weapon.

I made my way carefully through the facility, looking for a way out, taking out anyone who got in my way, taking what weapons I could conceal without hindering my movement on my way. I found a computer room. Knowing it probably wasn't a good idea, I killed the tech and used the computers to hack into Stark's lab. It took me fifteen minutes with me looking over my shoulder constantly, but finally, I was looking at Stark.

"Stark!"

"Sophie! Where are you, Kid?"

"The Red Room facility. I've gotten myself free and I'm working on getting out of here. I need someone to get word to my dad that I'm okay and to Nat that I'll meet her at the origin point of the mission to rescue Bucky as soon as I can."

"Are you hurt, Sophie?"

"Not really, some electrical burns from my bobby pins shorting the locking mechanisms on the power restraints. But I healed those pretty quickly. Just get those messages out for me, Stark."

"Got it, Kid."

"One more thing, Stark."

"What?"

"Send your nastiest computer virus to this system, make it irreparable. I don't want them to have access to you because I hacked you from here and it will destroy any data on my mom they have."

"Once I do, I'll lose you within 90 seconds, Sophie."

"Send it. I only have about that until I need to keep moving to find a way out of here."

"Stay safe, Kid."

Stark sent the virus and quickly the computer system went down, taking the entire facility's systems down with it. Alarms started going off and I knew I needed to get out quick. I continued on my search for a way out.

 **Barton's POV:**

"Agent Barton, please report to Mr. Stark's laboratory," J.A.R.V.I.S. paged me over the p.a. system.

I was in my quarters, packing, ready to go against orders, but something told me to answer Tony's page. A few minutes later I walked into his lab. He was ending a video call with Natasha.

"What is it, Stark?"

"Don't be stupid, going against orders, Barton. I know what's going on with Sophie."

"How? You weren't there when we found out."

"I talked to her."

I was shocked.

"What? When? How?"

"Not too long ago. She hacked my computer from the Red Room facility to tell ask me to let you know she's freed herself and is working on a way out of there and to contact Romanoff to set up a meeting place. Then she had me send a virus to destroy their computers and any data they may have on her mother and by default her."

"Did she look okay, Stark?"

"Sophie looked fine, Barton. She's tough. She managed to get out of the power restraints without her powers. I'm pretty sure she's at full power, so I'd put my money on her."

I felt a little better. I knew Sophie was tough, but knowing she wasn't restraint and she had her powers back made me more confident. I'd seen what she'd done on her own when at her full power.

 **Sophie's POV:**

I had finally found the exit and gotten outside. When I did, the enhanced was there.

"You got through all those people on your own, Sophie, but you won't be able to get through me so easily."

"Who are you? What do you want with me?"

"You don't recognize your own _twin_ , Sophie? I mean I know it's been eighteen years since you've seen me, but I would think…"

"I don't have a twin."

"Yeah, you do. Jason Clinton Holden. I was the twin they threw away, technically."

"What are you talking about?"

"When we were born, they decided you were the better specimen for the experiments. So they told our mother I was stillborn and sold me to another lab."

"If that's true, how do you know that you're my brother?"

"They gave me pictures of my mother and sister as I was growing up, to break me, to show me that I wasn't good enough. It wasn't until they lost you that they wanted to use me for the experiment, but my genetics and enhancements weren't what they needed. They never let me near our mother, but I was in the building. I felt when you came and went to see her."

"If that's true, then stop this, come with me. Let me take you to people who will help you."

"The Avengers? No. I'd rather see them destroyed."

"You don't mean that. Our father…" I stopped, not wanting to tell him about Dad.

"Is the legendary Hawkeye? With young children in Iowa where he owns a farmhouse with his wife? I know that already."

Panic went through me. If he knew about the farmhouse… I couldn't focus on what could happen. I attacked him, and felt the hit I landed on him. I ignored the pain and he started attacking back.

It was clear that it was physically hurting him to attack me as much as it was hurting me to attack him. The difference was I had trained with Bucky for almost two years and could handle high levels of pain. We beat each other to a bloody pulp and I finally pulled a gun on him.

"You won't kill me," he said, breathing heavily and deeply. "You feel every hit you've landed on me. What do you think it will feel like if you put a bullet in me?"

I took a deep breath and pulled the trigger, putting the bullet between his eyes. I fell to my knees because the pain was so unbearable.

"Better than you killing Dad and the rest of my family, you douche," I said when I finally got up.

I wasn't healing the way I should have been. It had to do with him, he must have been telling some truth in what he said. I went back into the facility, looking for the rest of my things.

It took me twenty minutes to find where they hid my comms piece and my weapons. It took me another fifteen to get the comms working. I was still in bad shape.

"Nat? Bucky? Are either of you there?" I said into my comms in Russian.

"Sophie Francis Holden! Where are you?" Bucky responded in Russian.

"Inside the Red Room facility. Everyone's dead. I need a change of plans from my plan with Stark. I need you to come here. I'm not sure if Bucky still has the portal or not, but I couldn't open it if I wanted to," I replied.

"We'll be there in twenty minutes with the Quinjet," Natasha replied.

"I'll make my way outside on the north side."

"Got it."

 **Barton's POV:**

I was called by Steve to come to the control room. It was just the two of us.

"What is it, Steve?" I asked him.

"I just got a message from Bucky. He said that Sophie got in touch, asking for an extraction from the Red Room facility, but that all threats were neutralized."

An extraction? She told Stark she'd meet them in Poland.

"Why an extraction?"

"Bucky said she's not sure if he still has her portal power or not and that he thinks she's hurt. He said she mentioned that even if she did have the power she didn't think she'd be able to use it."

"But she heals quicker than you or Bucky."

"I know. But that's all he knows right now. They were on their way to extract her. He said after they got her, gave her basic medical attention and searched the facility, he'd be in touch again. But he wanted me to make sure that you knew she was alive, Clint. That's the most important thing. Sophie is alive."

He was right. Even if she was hurt, that was nothing compared to the other possibilities.

"And the mission? After all of this, was her mission a success?"

"I believe so, but we'll get confirmation after Natasha and Bucky get to her. If it was, great. If not, we'll figure that out later. Our priority is that she's alive."

"Thanks, Steve. I know that when it comes from you, you mean it."

 **Sophie's POV:**

I was leaning against the outer wall of the north side of the building when the Quinjet landed. Bucky came straight for me. He picked me up and brought me into the Quinjet, where he and Natasha started working on my injuries.

"What happened to you, Sophie? Why aren't you healing?" Bucky asked me.

"I think it's because these injuries are from the fight with the enhanced. He said he was my twin, guys. I didn't know anything about it. But when I was fighting him, I felt not only ever hit he hit me with but every hit I hit him with. When I killed him with a bullet to the head, it was so overwhelmingly painful I thought I might go with him."

"You killed the enhanced?" Nat asked me.

"I had to, Nat. He knew about Dad, Laura, Cooper, Lila, Nathaniel, and the farmhouse. I was scared if I let him get away now he'd get to them before we could get them somewhere safe. I couldn't risk it."

"And there was nobody alive in the facility?" Nat asked.

"No."

"Bucky, tend to her injuries. I'll see what I find and then we'll get out of here. We're going home."

Nat left and Bucky continued to take care of my injuries.

"Bucky, stop. I need a favor from you."

He gave me a look like I had five heads.

"Please?"

"What is it, Sophie?"

"A hundred and fifty yards southeast from this point is where I left the body of the enhanced. I want to bring it back with us. I need to know if I really did just kill my twin brother."

"Sophie," he said, his tone softening, "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"If we bring back just some of his blood and he was telling the truth, then I'm leaving my brother to the elements in Belarus. Is that right? How would Dad feel, finding out I have a twin, I killed him, and he won't even get to bury him?"

He dropped his head.

"Fine. But finish cleaning up these injuries while I do this."

I nodded. I cleaned my wounds then went to the computer bay. I connected to the control room at base.

"Steve?"

"Sophie! Oh my God! Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine. The enhanced is neutralized," I said trying to hold back the tears.

"Do you have any idea why he was after your mother's files?"

"I believe he was doing it to lure me out. He wanted to get to me."

"Do you know why?"

"I think so, but I'll need to confirm in the lab when I get back. Until then, I'd rather not say."

"Alright, Sophie. Where are Natasha and Bucky?"

"Natasha is doing a sweep of the facility to make sure I didn't miss anything. Bucky is retrieving the body of the enhanced."

At that moment, Bucky appeared out of a fire portal behind me with Jason.

"Correction, Bucky is using my ability to try to sneak up on me," I said with a slight laugh.

"Alright, Sophie. Let him finish tending to you. We'll see you when you get back here."

"Alright, Steve. But can I ask you a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Can I crash with you and Bucky for a few days? Depending on the results in the lab, I don't know how well I'm going to be able to be in close quarters with Dad."

"No problem, Sophie. See you when you get back here."


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty One:**

 **Sophie's POV:**

When we got to the base, Dad and the rest of the team were waiting in the hangar. I was the only one with any real injuries, but they were finally starting to heal. Bruce came right to me.

"Do you need any medical attention, Sophie?"

"No, but can you have Helen run a test on the enhanced? I need a DNA test. Test him against me and Dad, Bruce," I said softly.

He looked at me with shock in his face.

"He told me he was my twin. He also said it was why the injuries I sustained in the fight that led to me killing him were worse."

"And you still killed him?"

"He threatened Dad, Laura, and the kids. He knew about the farmhouse. I had to."

"I'll take care of it without telling your dad. Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine. Thanks, Bruce."

"Sophie," Dad said finally coming to me. "Are you alright?"

"I'm going to be fine, Dad. Believe it or not, I've been in worse shape, I've just healed faster before."

"Why did Steve say you were going to crash with him and Bucky for a few days?"

"I need some space, to get over some things I saw, some things I did."

"Will you talk to me?"

"Give me a few days to process it? And then I'll tell you?"

"Alright. I'm here when you're ready."

"And right now, it's time for these three to be debriefed. Agent Holden, in my office, please?" Fury said from the other side of the hangar.

I hugged Dad and walked away. I followed Fury into his office and sat down. He asked me questions about what happened, why I broke protocol, and why I killed the enhanced. After an hour, he was happy with the answers and let me go, calling Bucky in. I wandered to Stark's lab.

"Hey, Kid. What are you doing here?"

Stark was working with The Vision.

"I just wound up here after being debriefed," I answered. "I wanted to thank you, Tony. If you hadn't helped me I'd probably be a lot worse off than I am right now. And thank you for talking to my dad."

"Do your injuries hurt, Sophie?" The Vision asked me.

"Not too much. I'm kinda numb."

"Why?" he asked me.

"I may have done something that I'm not sure how Dad will react."

"Emotional numbness is voiding your physical pain?"

"Pretty much. It happens with people sometimes. Me more than other people."

Stark finished with The Vision while I watched. When he was done, he sent The Vision on his way.

"What's going on, Kid?"

"Nothing. I just keep thinking about the enhanced. How he said he was my twin and how six months ago that could have been me."

"Legolas wouldn't have done it. I'm sure he would have found a way not to."

"So if it turns out this enhanced was my twin, what will he think when he finds out that I neutralized him, Stark?"

"Did you try to find another way, Sophie?"

"Yes. I tried to convince him to come here so we could help him. He said he'd rather kill all of you. I almost mentioned Dad, but he told me about Dad, Laura, the kids and _the farmhouse_ , Tony. I couldn't risk him getting to Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel, even if he was my twin. He wanted to kill everyone I care about. I couldn't let him."

"You did what you could, Sophie. Some people have good hearts, like you do. Others can change their ways to do the right thing. But ultimately, there are still those who have so much anger in them that no amount of compassion will make them change their ways."

I nodded at him and left the lab.

 **Barton's POV:**

It had been two days since Sophie came back from her mission. Her wounds were fully healed, and physically, she was back to normal. We spent some time together on and off since her return, but she was distant. I was trying to give her the space she asked for, but it wasn't easy.

"Dad?" Sophie said coming into my bedroom.

"Sophie? I thought you'd be with Steve and Bucky."

"I needed to talk to you. About what happened at the Red Room."

I moved over so she could lie down next to me.

"Go ahead, Sweetie. You can tell me anything."

"Dad, the enhanced was trying to lure me out, and that's exactly what we gave him. He was after me."

"Why?"

She sat up, facing away from me, before she got up and started pacing.

"He told me my injuries were worse because of our relationship. I didn't know what he meant. But he told me, we were twins. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to believe him, but I got the DNA confirmation last night, cross-matches between you and me. He was my brother and your son. I'm so sorry, Dad, but he knew about you and Laura, and Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel, and the farmhouse. I was scared he was going to kill all of you, so, even though just hitting him hurt like hell, I put the bullet in his head, knowing there was a possibility I was killing your son," Sophie said in Russian.

"Slow down, Sophie," I said getting up and turning her to face me. "Is this why you've been avoiding me? Did you think I'd turn on you?"

"I killed him, knowing he was likely telling the truth about being my twin. Dad, his name was Jason Clinton Holden and the lab we were at sold him at birth because they thought I was the better specimen. They tormented him his entire life, showing him pictures of me and mom, but not letting him near us. I never knew about him and mom was apparently told he was a stillborn. They brought him back to the original lab when I got away, but kept him away from Mom. But he felt when I would break in and out to see her. He was there all that time and I had no idea."

"Sophie," I said, getting her attention, "you did what you did to protect your younger siblings. I can't imagine what hell it was for you to do that, but I don't hate you. How can I hate you for protecting your brothers and sister? You had reason to believe he was a threat, that he couldn't be rehabilitated. I hate that you had to do this, but I'm glad to know that you are so protective of your family that you will do anything for them."

"I brought him back because I couldn't stand the idea of him being right and being left to the elements of the Belarus forests. Evil or not, he was apparently my twin. I couldn't do it, especially not to you. I didn't think you'd handle all of this and not being able to bury or cremate him," she said, finally speaking English. "I already knew that you, like Bucky, were going to be pissed about me letting him capture me to let Bucky escape. He implied they were going to kill Bucky, so I got him out. I didn't want to risk denying you this, too."

"I'm not mad at you. At least not anymore. You're safe, that's the most important thing to any father where his children are concerned."

"But Jason isn't."

"Jason would've killed you and possibly the entire family. If you hadn't killed him, I probably would have had to. Either way, he would have been neutralized."

She let out a small laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"You were worried about me adjusting to this life."

"Yeah, and?"

"After this mission, I don't think there is anything they could throw at me that will be this hard ever again."

I pulled her into a hug and ignored that she was crying. She obviously didn't want me to see it. I just held onto her until she pulled back.

"Do you want to go to the movies?"

She looked at me weird.

"Haven't you ever been to a movie theater, Sophie?"

She shook her head.

"Well, then we're going later when they open. Do you want to invite Bucky?"

She nodded.

"And we'll figure out what to do with the enhanced later, okay?"

"Jason."

"What?"

"His name was Jason."

"Alright, Jason. We'll figure out what to do with Jason later."

"Thanks, Dad. I'll meet you back here in a little while?"

"Sure. Going to see Bucky?"

"No. Stark's lab. I want to see what I can find out about Jason."

I knew on one side it was a bad idea to let her, she was letting the mission become too personal. On the other side, it couldn't get any more personal. The enhanced she was tracking turned out to be her twin brother and she had to neutralize him. I let her go. If this was what she needed to do to cope, I couldn't stop her, only be there when she needed me.

"Alright, just know if you need me, I'm here for you, Sophie."

"Thanks, Dad," she said hugging me before leaving.

 **Sophie's POV:**

I knew Stark wouldn't be in the lab for another few hours, which is why I wanted to go and do my research. It would be quieter. He knew I was having issues dealing with having killed Jason. How could I not?

"J.A.R.V.I.S.?"

"Yes, Agent Holden?"

"I need you to track any information on Jason Clinton Holden, same parents and birthday as me. You can use his DNA sequence if you have to. Make it a worldwide search, I'm not sure what labs he was kept at over the years. I want to know everything you can tell me. If there are any videos or pictures, please get those, too. Copy all data to the flash drive I'm inserting now."

"Yes, Agent Holden. Beginning the search for information on Jason Clinton Holden, born March 10, 1998, mother Dr. Anya Holden, father, Clinton Francis Barton, aka Hawkeye, sister, Sophie Francis Holden."

"Thank you, J.A.R.V.I.S."

I sat at the computer, going through some of my coursework that I needed to do, not really interested. The door to the lab opened. Bucky and Steve walked in.

"We thought you'd be in here if you weren't with your father," Steve said.

Bucky looked at the search parameters.

"What are you doing, Sophie?" Bucky asked.

"I need to know. He was my brother and until he told me that, nobody in the family knew that and I _killed him_. I need to know why he turned out the way he did. This hurts so much and it makes no sense."

Steve and Bucky hugged me.

"We're here if you need us," Steve said, stopping Bucky from protesting anymore. "Just call, text, or just come find us. Any time, day or night. We've got you, Sophie."

"Thank you. Both of you. You have done so much for me."

"You know we love you, Sophie," Bucky said.

The door to the lab opened and I was worried it was Stark. It wasn't. It was Wanda Maximoff.

"Boys, will you excuse Sophie and I?"

Steve looked from me to Wanda and nodded at her before leading Bucky out of the lab.

"How did you know I was in here?"

"Your father told me where you were."

"Why did you come to find me?"

"I think I am probably the only one in this facility to be able to say I understand what you are going through right now and mean it."

"How?"

"What do you know about Sokovia, my homeland?"

I thought back to what Dad told me and then I remembered about Nathaniel's middle name.

"You had a brother named Pietro. Dad gave my baby brother his name because he saved his life."

She nodded at me.

"Pietro was my twin brother. It was always us against the world, especially after we lost our parents. We gave into our anger and volunteered for the experiments that made us enhanced, Sophie, so we'd be able to get revenge on the man we blamed for our parents' deaths."

"Who was that?"

"Tony Stark. One of his missiles destroyed the building we lived in while we sat down to dinner when Pietro and I were ten. We let the anger and the hate influence the people we became as we got older. We are the reason he created Ultron. I played on his deepest fears with my powers."

"What does that have to do with your brother or why you understand how I feel?"

"It has to do with it because your father was nearly killed by Ultron. He stole one of the Quinjets and was shooting at random targets as we tried to evacuate the Sokovians to the Helicarrier. Your father had left the evacuation boat to retrieve a child and that is when Ultron tried to kill him. Pietro saved him, but was shot instead. I was in the center of the city, and I felt him die, Sophie."

"I'm sorry, Wanda. I had no idea of the specifics."

"We don't talk about it much. Before I joined the Avengers, I was like you. The Avengers were after me and Pietro. We attacked them when they were trying to get the scepter that was at the center of the experiments that made us what we were. Then, after I played on Stark's fears so he would make Ultron, we helped Ultron for a while. The Vision's body was meant to be Ultron's, but when he started to join his mind with the body I was able to read him for the first time… and saw he planned to destroy everyone. Pietro and I got away and helped the Avengers take all of the Ultrons down, but Pietro didn't make it, because of a monster I had a hand in creating."

I looked at her, knowing that she really did understand in some way.

"I didn't know I had a fraternal twin until I went back to Belarus. I let him capture me so Bucky could get away. I got out and neutralized all enemies on my way out. When I came across him, he told me part of my life I didn't even know.

"His name was Jason Clinton Holden and the lab we were born in sold him because they thought I'd make a better specimen. I didn't want to believe him, but when we were fighting it hurt to hit him. I _felt_ what I did to him, Wanda. Part of me knew what he said was true, and I wanted to try to save him, the way Dad saved me, but he wouldn't let me. When I brought it up, he told me he knew about Dad and Laura, my siblings, the farmhouse, and I didn't know he wouldn't kill them all. As much as it hurt, I couldn't let him hurt them, _could I_?"

"No, you couldn't. Sometimes, no matter how much we want to save one person, we have to think about all the others that will get hurt if we do. Some things are meant to be. I'm sorry you are the one who had to do it, but he left you no choice, Sophie."

"What kind of person kills their twin, Wanda?"

"Usually, not a good one. But this is different, Sophie. You tried to find another way to help him. He didn't want it. And if you weren't a good person, this wouldn't be bothering you. You wouldn't care. You wouldn't have brought his body back so your father would have the option to bury him when you told him the truth. You wouldn't have told him or anyone else the truth. You never would have had it confirmed. The fact that it does bother you, you told us the truth, are giving your father the option of closure, it shows that you did only what you were pushed into. He backed you into a corner.

"You can do this research, learn everything you can about him, I hope it helps you deal with this, Sophie. But just know, he made his choices and you had to make the choice to defend your baby brother and your sister, your brother. You made the right choice."

"Thanks, Wanda. I don't think anyone else could say this to me and it mean what it means coming from you."

"If you need help dealing with this, I'm here for you to talk to, Sophie."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"I'll leave you to your work."

 **Barton' POV:**

Wanda walked onto the archery range. I stopped shooting and took my earbuds out.

"How did it go? Did you have any luck with her?"

"I think I did. I hope so. Maybe Sophie and I can help each other. The circumstances are different, but nobody can understand the loss of a twin like another twin."

"I really hope this works. Thank you, Wanda."

"I owe you my life, Clint. I would have died at least a dozen times in Sokovia having the panic attack I did. You made me see what was important and got me through that."

"Wanda, about Pietro…"

"He made his choice," she said, pain in her voice.

"I'm sorry. I wish I could have saved him and the boy."

"You would have died."

"I know. And I would have done it."

"But then who would be here for Sophie now, Clint? If you had died in Sokovia instead of Pietro, what would be happening to Sophie right now?"

I couldn't answer that. There was a possibility she'd be dead already.

"Exactly. This may be a good thing to come from my loosing Pietro. Your daughter was going to come into your life and he kept you alive to be there for her."

"He may have been a pain in my ass, but Pietro gave me so much more than I can ever repay you for, Wanda."

"Just be a good father. Don't let this be for nothing."

"I promise."

She smiled at me and walked away.

 **Sophie's POV:**

It was nearly eleven when Stark came strolling into the lab. He looked shocked to see me.

"What are you doing in here so early?"

"Early, Stark? It's nearly eleven. I've been in here since before seven."

"What are you working on?"

I didn't answer him. I looked away from him.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., what is Katniss working on?"

"Agent Holden is researching information on Jason Clinton Holden, Sir."

"Katniss, really?"

"I need to know, Stark. That's why I came in so early. I figured I could do some or most of it before you got here."

The door to the lab opened again. It was Bucky. He had lunch for me. He smiled at me and sat at my side, squeezing my shoulder in support.

"Are you okay with her driving herself crazy?"

"No, but she needs this, so I'm here to support her. Besides, we're leaving in an hour. We're going to the movies. She's never gone to the movies before. None of us have ever thought about that because even Steve and I have been to a movie theater before. Barton and I are taking her out for the afternoon, so this is just being downloaded onto a file for her to look over later, Stark."

I leaned into Bucky.

"All I'm saying is sometimes you don't want the answers you were looking for," Stark said before going to one of his projects.

"Thanks for lunch, Bucky. And thank you for coming around on this."

"Steve's right. I don't know what you're dealing with right now. So if you need me to sit back and let you do this and be there when you need me after, that's what I'll do for you, Soph."

"Thanks."

I ate my lunch and by the time I was done, J.A.R.V.I.S. had downloaded all information he could find on Jason. I checked that it was saved to the flashdrive and Bucky walked me back to my quarters. Dad was there.

"Hey, Dad."

"Hey. Are you feeling any better?"

"Yeah. Thanks for sending Wanda to talk to me. It helped a little."

"I'm glad. She said that it helped her a little to talk to you too. Which I'm also glad about since I still feel horrible about Pietro."

Bucky had no idea what we were talking about so I explained what Dad was talking about.

"I had no idea Wanda had a twin."

"He died before Sophie even made it onto our radar. Wanda thinks that maybe, this is the reason I had to survive Sokovia. She asked me a question I couldn't answer this morning."

"What did you ask you, Barton?"

"She asked me if I had died in Sokovia instead of Pietro, what would have become of Sophie?"

I thought about it, and she was right. Dad admitted the mission the Avengers were given when I wound up on their radar was either to apprehend or eliminate me. Without Dad would they have even considered apprehending me?

"I guess I owe my life to Pietro Maximoff, then. A man I never even met."

"A pain in the ass with a smart mouth, but in the end, he did the right thing. I sure as hell wouldn't be here without him," Dad said.

Bucky and I laughed. I went and locked my flash drive in my biometric safe.

"Are you guys ready to go?" I asked them when I was done.

"Let's go, Sophie," Dad said.

"Yeah, time for you to experience something new," Bucky said.

 **Barton's POV:**

Bucky, Sophie and I had a great time at the movies and the restaurant afterward. If you didn't know us, you wouldn't know that it was two Master Assassins, one of which was enhanced, and an enhanced genius agent. When we went back to base, Bucky went off to find Steve, telling Sophie he'd see her when she came back to his room. I knew it was time to talk to Sophie about Jason.

"Sophie, do you know what you want to do?" I asked gently.

"About Jason?"

I nodded.

"I think so."

"What do you think we should do?"

"I think we should bury him. Maybe close to home?"

"Do you mean here or Iowa?"

"I'm not sure. That's where I'm stuck. The farmhouse is great, and I love going there and seeing Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel. I've even come to have some liking for Laura. But honestly when I think of home, I think of here, Dad."

"You sound like Steve. But I understand. So we'll find a cemetery nearby and have him buried here."

She hugged me.

"Thank you, Dad."

We went back to our quarters and spent another hour just talking before she went back to Steve and Bucky's room. The following I made the arrangements for Jason. I transported him to the funeral home in a van myself and gave strict directions.

Two days after I dropped Jason's body at the funeral home, the Avengers were at mine and Sophie's side as we said good-bye to her twin brother. Sophie put a picture of Anya in the casket with Jason since he was never allowed to be with her in life. At the cemetery, we waited until he had been lowered into his grave before we left.

Given how harshly she was handling his death, Sophie held up fairly well during the funeral. She cried, but she stayed with Wanda the whole time. It seemed to give both of them solace. When we got back to the base, Stark pulled me aside.

"I wanted to talk to you about Anya, Clint," he said to me.

I tried not to attack him. It was such a sore subject for both me and Sophie. Instead, I nodded and followed him to the lab while Sophie was preoccupied with Bucky and Steve.

"What is it, Stark?"

"I was thinking, at the funeral, maybe I could track Anya's body down and have her moved to the cemetery with Jason. Maybe it would help Sophie to actually be able to say good-bye to her mother."

"Okay, is that all?"

"No, Clint. I asked J.A.R.V.I.S. to track her body. Even in the case where she died in a lab, there needs to be some kind of record as to where she is."

"And?"

"There's nothing. There's a death certificate, but there is absolutely no record of a body being removed from any of the facilities any of the scientists worked at for up to two weeks after the date of death, Barton."

"Are you telling me her body is missing?"

"That or the death certificate was falsified to lure Sophie out of hiding."

Could Anya still be alive?


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty Two:**

 **Barton's POV:**

The month was up. I was officially retiring. After Sophie's mission in Belarus, the whole team had a mission, and it went really well. Sophie flowed seamlessly with the Avengers. Still, she was my daughter, and I was leaving to go back to Iowa and not coming back in a week or two. I was letting her grow up.

"Are you okay, Dad?"

I pulled myself out of my thoughts and went back to packing. Sophie was helping me.

"Yeah, Sophie. Just thinking about how unbelievable that the last month flew by so fast."

"It did," she said, folding my sweater. "I'm going to miss you, Dad, but you're doing the right thing going back into retirement."

"Are you sure?"

She looked at me for a minute.

"Yeah," she said as she packed the sweater. "I'm sure. I love you, but you wanted out. When you think of home, you think of the farmhouse, not here. Retire, I'm sure."

"I'll only be a call away if you need me."

"You better only be a call away," she said laughing.

I hugged her.

"I'll miss you, too, Sophie."

We finished packing and while she went to talk to Steve I grabbed Sam.

"What's up, Barton?"

"I need a favor, Sam."

"You're not going to hang me out to dry with Fury like you did Cho, are you?" he asked, laughing.

"Very funny. This isn't against any orders you have here. Technically it won't get you in trouble, but I need it kept from Sophie."

"I thought you two don't keep secrets."

"I'll tell her after if you and Steve can do this for me."

"This sounds serious, Barton."

"It is, Sam," I said before explaining what happened with Tony the day of Jason's funeral. "Essentially, I need you and Steve to figure out one way or the other where Anya is, dead or alive. Tony's right, if we can find her body, we should bury her with Jason."

"That's some crazy accusation, Barton. Do you think she's alive?"

"I don't want to get my hopes up or Sophie's, which is why I don't want to say anything until you two can get more information. But what if Tony is right and her death certificate was forged to make Sophie think it's safe to settle down?"

"You've got a point. Alright. I'm in and I'll talk to Steve when he's not with her, even if I need to use a crowbar to separate them."

I looked at Steve and Sophie.

"You don't think there's anything going on with them, do you?"

"I don't know anything about that. I just know that if she's not with you or in the lab she's usually with one or both of those boys," Sam replied. "But she's an adult, Clint. What if she is dating one of them?"

"She's _barely_ eighteen, and I've known them longer than I've known she's my daughter. It's unnerving to say the least to think about her dating anyone, let alone someone you _know_ should be almost a hundred years old, Sam."

"Alright, I got you there," Sam said, laughing.

"Just keep this confidential until you can give me information?"

"You got it, Barton," Sam said just before Sophie came over to us.

"Are you ready to go home, Dad?"

"Sure, Baby. Let's go."

"Let's go, Steve," she called across the hangar.

"Steve's coming with you?" I asked.

"Well, I have to be back tonight, so he's taking the flight with me so I don't have to fly back alone. Bucky's got some paperwork he still owes for our mission in Belarus that he always finds an excuse when we're here with him so I asked Steve to come to keep me company and keep from giving Bucky from having an excuse."

"Alright."

We got onto the Quinjet and Sophie brought me home. When we got to the farmhouse, Laura insisted on having Steve come in for coffee so Sophie could visit with her brothers and sister. Sophie hadn't done it intentionally, but she had been a little distant from Cooper especially since Jason died. While we had coffee, Sophie took Cooper and Lila outside for target practice on my birthday gift.

"So, Steve, how are you doing?" Laura asked.

"I'm good, Ma'am. How are you doing since Nathaniel's birth?"

"I'm doing great, thank you," Laura replied. "You and Sophie have become close?"

"She's one of my best friends, Ma'am. She gave me my best friend back."

"That's so sweet. How has she been lately?"

"Laura, don't put Steve in the middle of this," I said to her.

"Middle of what?" Steve asked.

"Laura is worried about Sophie. She's been distant to her brother and sister in the past few weeks. I told her that she is dealing with some classified information."

Steve looked at me.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Barton. I can't comment on anything relating to Sophie's missions."

"I'm just worried about her and considering…"

"Laura, please, don't. Sophie will be fine. Just give her some time. She loves Lila and Cooper, she's just got a lot going on in her head right now that she needs to work through. But trust me when I say she would give up everything to protect _all_ of you."

"Clint's right, Ma'am. Sophie is a strong girl and she loves her brothers and sister so much. I'm sure it's not easy for them that she's distant right now, but she'll come around."

"Thank you, Steve. I appreciate your honesty."

 **Sophie's POV:**

Spending time with Cooper and Lila was fun but hard. There were similarities between Cooper and Jason that I didn't want to think about but couldn't deny. I knew that Laura insisting Steve stay for coffee was a ploy to get me to spend time with my brother and sister, which I wasn't mad at her for. Dad and I agreed that she probably couldn't handle knowing I had a twin that I had to kill to protect them all. _I_ could barely handle it.

"You okay, Sophie?"

"Yeah, Steve, I'm good," I replied putting the Quinjet on autopilot. "How are you dealing with whatever onslaught of questions Laura had for you?"

"You know about that, huh?"

"I know Laura. She did this to force me to take time with Lila and Cooper. I love my brother and sister, but especially Cooper, Steve, he and Jason have so many of Dad's features. It makes all of it harder."

"Laura was trying to find out what happened that made you push the kids away."

"Did you tell her?"

"No. Your dad told her it was classified, related to your mission. I told her I can't discuss anything related to your missions but I know you love your brothers and sister very much."

"Thanks, Steve," I said, putting my head on his shoulder.

It was later than we should've been heading back. Technically, I should've already been on base. Suddenly, the screen at the computer bay came to life.

"Did you two take the Quinjet to go on a date?" Fury asked.

"No, Sir," Steve replied.

"How far out are you?"

"A few hours still, Sir," I answered.

"Unacceptable, Holden. You're supposed to be here. I need you on a mission. Tonight. How fast can you get here?"

"Steve, can you?"

"Go. I'll fly the Quinjet back on my own. I'm sorry I held us up."

"It's not your fault, Steve. I'll see you when we get back."

"I'll be there in under two minutes. I'll be in the hangar, Sir."

The screen went blank and I turned to Steve.

"This isn't why I had you come with me," I said as I hugged him.

"Go, and be safe. We'll talk when you get back."

I kissed his cheek and backed up a few feet from him. I called the portal and stepped through it. When the flames died, I was in the hangar. Bucky was there.

"Where's Steve?"

"Flying the Quinjet. Laura manipulated me and Steve into staying longer because she wanted me to spend time with Cooper and Lila. I think we were over Minnesota when Fury told me that I needed to be here for a mission."

"You do, Holden," Fury said, coming into the hangar.

"I'll only need ten minutes to get ready once you tell us what's going on, Sir."

"You two are going deep cover. You may be under for a while."

My stomach dropped.

"Your cover is going to be siblings whose parents died. Barnes you'll have 'custody' of your fifteen year old sister. You're going to San Francisco."

"What's the case?"

"There is a rogue enhanced in San Francisco. It seems as though he is recruiting at-risk teenagers for experiments. Holden, you're the at-risk teen. You're going to be enrolled in the high school almost half of the missing teens went to. Barnes will be mostly be a ghost, so it comes across that you are neglected and in need of mentoring. All of the at-risk teens come from some sort of broken home."

I nodded at Fury.

"Are you ready for this?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Barnes, do you still share Holden's ability to open the portals?"

"Yes, Sir. As of right now, I still have the ability to open fire portals."

"Good. That will come in handy. Get your tracking devices from Stark and get yourself ready for the mission. Stark will be flying you to California in thirty minutes."

We walked away, separating in the hall outside the hangar and agreeing to meet at the lab fifteen minutes later. Back in what was my quarters, I started packing for the mission the way Dad taught me. Minimal luggage, maximum usage. Five minutes before I was supposed to leave, I video-messaged Steve.

"Is everything okay, Sophie?"

"No. I don't know when Bucky and I are going to be back. We're going covert in San Francisco. I'm the bait on the mission."

"So Fury is sending you on an open-ended mission?"

"Yeah. I'm going under as a high school student."

"Be careful not to outpace everyone in the school. It might blow your cover."

We both laughed.

"I'll try."

"You've never been in a school before."

"I know. I'll just have to wing it. I guess that will make me seem more vulnerable."

"Just promise me you'll be careful."

"I will. I gotta go. I have to meet Bucky and Stark at the lab before getting the last of my equipment and leaving."

"I'll see you when you get back, Sophie."

I hung up and made my way to the lab. Bucky was already inside with Stark. Stark gave us tracking devices that nobody would suspect were trackers. Bobby pins, pens, and a headband for me. A tie, aglets, and the case of Bucky's cell phone. We were given new cell phones, and Tony locked up the cell phones we currently carried. We were given back-up burn phones for emergencies in case we needed back-up, I was given a 2-in-1 laptop/tablet that had a hidden back door into Tony's lab, and we were given new IDs.

"Really, Tony? Kat Burns? Pushing the Katniss thing a bit much?"

Tony laughed like a moron, as usual.

"No! Little Kat Burns is a borderline student since the tragic death of her parents."

"Wait, what? I have to play stupid? I knew I was gonna have to tone it down, but you're talking about acting like a complete moron."

"Sorry, Katniss. This is your cover. You need to be borderline, cutting classes, getting into trouble to try to gain the attention of the enhanced who is hunting for vulnerable teenagers. Big brother Riley will get called in to deal with disciplinary issues with you at least twice a week, got it?"

"Riley? That's my name, Stark?"

"It's better than Buchanan, my man."

"Now, what are we going to do about Riley's left arm? People are likely to notice a man with a robotic arm."

"I got that. Hang on," I said walking into the back part of the lab.

I pulled a computer chip from my work station and walked back to Bucky. I grabbed a step-stool to get to the central board of the cybernetics in the arm. After a few minutes, I had the chip placed in the arm. I hit a pressure point on his arm and the metallic color of the arm changed to match the color of the rest of his flesh.

"How did you do that, Sophie?" Bucky asked me.

"I've been working on that since I started the arm. I just didn't have the time to finish it before I switched it with your old arm. If you hit this pressure point here," I said showing him as I pressed it again," it will change back to its original look. But now, you have the option, especially when we go under like this, to hide your arm without having to wear long sleeves or gloves in the heat."

"Awesome. Katniss took care of that problem. Now, tell me your names."

"Kat Burns, troubled high school student."

"Riley Burns, older brother-slash-guardian."

"Good. We'll work on the rest on the flight to the west coast. Bucky, let's get all of this to the hangar. Sophie, I'm technically not supposed to do this, but I don't follow orders anyway. Video call your father. Let him know you don't know when you'll be in touch again. Don't make him worry so soon after he went back into retirement. I can cover you for ten minutes tops."

"Thanks, Stark."

 **Barton's POV:**

My tablet was beeping. I knew I was getting a video call, but I wasn't expecting one. I took the tablet and went onto the porch to answer it. It was Sophie.

"Sophie, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine, Dad. Stark just thought I should get in touch with you tonight."

"How are you back at base?"

"Portal. I left Steve in the Quinjet over Minnesota. Fury needed me for a mission. That's why Stark is covering me to call you. I won't have my phone or any of my other electronics until further notice."

"What's your mission, Sophie?"

"I'm going deep-cover on the west coast. There's an enhanced preying on teenagers."

 _What if the death certificate was forged?_

"I don't like this. How long will you be under?"

"Long-term, until we can put an end to this according to Fury."

 _What if they're trying to lure Sophie out?_

"Who is going with you?"

"Bucky. He's going in as my guardian and older brother."

"That's it?"

"Dad, after Belarus, we'll be fine. Besides, he still has access to my portals."

That made me feel slightly better.

"Listen, Dad. I'll get in touch with you when I can, but I guess you'll have to check-in with Steve and Stark for the time being. I love you, but I have to go. Bye, Dad."

She ended the call before I could object.

 _Three months later:_

It had been months since I heard from Sophie. I didn't even know where she was. Nobody was allowed to tell me now that I was retired. I only knew she was on the West Coast and she was still making her check-ins on schedule. As hard as it was, it was going to have to do for now.

My phone started ringing. I looked at the phone. It was Sam. I picked up on the porch.

"What is it, Sam?"

"We've got some intel."

"What do you know?"

"Can you fly out to Maine?"

"Maine? What for?"

"I can't talk about it over the phone."

"I'll be there tonight. Meet me at the airport in Bangor."

I went into the house and found Laura.

"Laura, I need to fly out for a few days."

"Tell me you are not going on another mission, Clint. You're retired!"

"No. I asked Steve and Sam to track down some leads on something important, something that can't be discussed over the phone. They got something. I'm just going to find out what they know."

"No missions?"

"No. I'll be back in a week, tops."

"Alright. Don't forget to call."

"I won't. Do you mind dropping me at the airport?"

"Go get what you need."

I packed a bag as Laura got Nathaniel ready and in the car. Cooper and Lila were away at summer camp. When she dropped me at the airport, I used one of my covers to buy the plane ticket. As I sat on the plane, I couldn't help but think about what it was that Steve and Sam had to tell me.

Sam met me at the airport and we drove to a remote location. We walked into a run-down looking house and Sam called out for Steve. He came in, with somebody. I dropped my bag and fell to my knees.

 **Sophie's POV:**

"Riley grounded me again," I texted the enhanced. "Two weeks, nowhere but school."

"I could make it so he could never boss you around again."

"How?"

"Sneak out tonight. Meet me at Coit Tower at eleven."

I waited a few minutes.

"I'll be there."

I had met with the enhanced several times over the last few weeks. He pitied the girl whose brother was trying to run her life since her parents died. The name he gave the teenagers was Gerald Marx. He had fallen for my ruse and I was happy. I wanted this to be over so I could go home.

"See you tonight."

I put the cell phone down and grabbed my burn phone. I called Bucky.

"Eleven at Coit Tower," I told him and hung up.

Considering he was supposed to be the absentee guardian, I couldn't risk a long call. I started to go through my equipment to find what I could bring with me. Deciding that the trackers, my electro-shock bobby pins, and a comms unit hidden in my earring would be the only things I could trick him with, that's what I decided to bring.

At ten o'clock, "Riley" went to bed. A few minutes later, "Kat" snuck out of the window. It took me forty minutes to get to Coit Tower without a car. A few minutes after I got there, Gerald showed up.

"I'm glad you could make it, Kat," he said to me with a smile. "Come with me."

"Where are we going?"

"For a ride," he replied. "You do want to be able to take control of your life, don't you?"

I acted as if I was unsure, but ultimately nodded and went with him. We drove for almost half an hour. When we got to what looked like a warehouse, he injected me with a very mild sedative. It didn't work on me, so I faked it. He dragged me into the warehouse and put me into a cell with some of the other missing teens. When he left, I got back to my feet as soon as he closed the door.

"How did you do that?" a girl I recognized as Marley Drake asked.

"Shhh. Do you guys want to go home?"

They all nodded but looked terrified.

"He's stronger and faster than anyone we've ever met. He's really smart, too," Marley said.

"Don't worry. He's got powers, but so do I."

I opened a fire portal and got myself out of the cell.

"Are there any more of you here?"

"No," a boy named Jared Yancy said. "We're all that's left. The others… they didn't survive his tests."

"I'll come back for you guys."

I left the room in search of Gerald, knowing the security and power went down when I opened the portal. It didn't take me long to find him.

"What are you?" He asked me.

"A pissed off teenager, Marx."

He lunged at me and I pulled out one of my electro-shock bobby pins, hitting him in the temple. It knocked him down, but based on what the others said about his enhancements, it wouldn't keep him down long. I had just found a lead pipe when he got to his feet.

He came at me, rage in his eyes. I moved faster than he expected, ducking out of the way of his attempt to hit me, catching him with glancing blows of the lead pipe. Finally, when he thought he had me cornered, I saw Bucky open a fire portal behind him and tossed him the pipe. Bucky smashed it against the back of his head. Gerald went down and didn't get back up as quickly. Bucky put the power restraints on him while I went to get the kids. I pulled out my cell and called Coulson who was our back-up for the night.

"Coulson, do you have our coordinates?"

"Yeah, you ready?"

"We have five of the teens still alive. You'll need to find the bodies of the rest. Marx is restraint with Bucky. The facility is secure and ready for your team to come in and do their thing so Bucky and I can go."

"I have to…"

"Debrief us first? I know, Coulson."

Five minutes later, Coulson's team showed up. Agent May took Marx. Fitz and Sky went right for the computer equipment. Hunter rounded up the teenagers. Coulson came over to me and Bucky.

"Good job, you two."

"We lost some of the kids," Bucky said.

"You saved five. It's something. At least we don't have to tell all of the families that they'll never be the same again," Coulson said. "Come on. Let my team handle all of this, we'll debrief and I'll help you with your paperwork while we do."

 **Barton's POV:**

"Anya?" I asked, unable to believe my eyes.

"Clint? Is that you?"

I nodded. Then turned to Sam.

"How did you find her?"

"Cap's idea, actually. He asked about the possibility that one of those jerks owned secluded property. We looked into it and a few of them did, so we started checking them out. We found her at one of the properties about fifty miles from here."

"Thank you. Both of you," I said as I went and pulled Anya into my arms, crying, realizing how much I loved her and how much losing her destroyed me.

"I thought you were dead, Clint," she whispered.

"I thought you died that night, Anya. When I woke up in the hospital, I couldn't find you. Last year I found a death certificate after…" I stopped suddenly wondering how I was going to break this to Sophie.

"After what, Clint?"

"After your daughter wound up on the wrong end of a government watch list, Ma'am," Steve said gently.

"What do you mean? Sophie? Is she?" Anya asked, starting to hyperventilate.

"No, no, Anya. Sophie is beautiful and she's okay. She's working."

"Where does she work? When can I see her?"

I looked at Steve. I didn't have some of that information.

"Sophie is an agent of the Avengers, a team of individuals with and without enhancements, that protect the world from the worst evils it has seen. And as for when you can see her, Ma'am, she's been on assignment for three months, none of us have seen her."

"How do you know she's okay?" Anya asked panicking.

Steve's phone vibrated.

He flipped it over and showed a picture of Sophie and Bucky sitting with Coulson. Under the picture it said, "Be home tomorrow."

"Because she'll be back at base tomorrow, Ma'am."

"Base? I thought she said home?"

"She lives at the Avengers' base, Anya," I said gently. "Steve here is one of her best friends. The man sitting next to her in the picture is James. He's her other best friend. He took care of her when she was made to believe you died, Sweetheart."

"She thinks I'm dead?"

"Right now? Yes. I asked Steve and Sam to try to find you because my former colleague, Stark, had suggested…"

"Suggested what, Clint?"

"We should sit down," I said, leading her to a couch. "Anya, when you were grabbed, I know you were pregnant by me. I had Sophie tested. But do you remember that she was a twin?"

She nodded, clearly upset.

"Jason Clinton Holden. They said he was stillborn."

"Anya, he wasn't."

"He's alive?"

"I'm sorry, Anya. He died a few months ago. We had just buried him when Stark said we should try to find your body to try to give Sophie closure, but there were no records of what happened after your supposed death. When I retired, I asked Sam if him and Steve could find you."

"Clint, what are we going to do with her. You can't take her home with you," Steve pointed out.

I wanted to take her home with me, but he was right. I was married, and for the first time I wished I wasn't.

"I know someone," Sam said. "He's out in California, a retired S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist, Hank Pym."

"Give him a call," Steve said.

Sam walked out of the house.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty Three:**

 **Sophie's POV:**

Even though my deal was that I would go back to the farmhouse after missions, I didn't. When I called, Laura said Dad was out of town on business so I told her I'd get in touch with him. He agreed to let it go for now because he was busy, but made me promise to call him more since I wasn't able to for three months.

When Bucky and I got back to the base, Fury met up with us to debrief us again. After we were done with him, I told Bucky I would meet him in his quarters after I dropped my things in mine. We split up and I went to my quarters, figuring I'd call Steve to see where he was while I was there. Opening the door, I didn't need to.

"Steve?" I asked in shock.

He came and hugged me tighter than he ever had as the door closed behind me and my bags dropped to the ground. I felt something from him that I'd never felt before, something in _me_ I'd never felt before. Looking up into his eyes something was different.

"You're safe," he said, obviously relieved, but not letting me out of his embrace.

"Yeah, I'm tough, remember? And the drugs he tried to use on me were too mild to do anything to me."

"He drugged you?"

"Trying to sedate me to get me into the facility," I replied, worried at seeing Steve so concerned. "Steve, are you okay?"

He hugged me to him tighter.

"I've been waiting three months to see you, Sophie. All this time, not knowing where you were or if you were okay… it hasn't been easy," he said lifting my chin so I was looking into his eyes, which were showing a mix of concern and another emotion I couldn't identify. "Sophie, this isn't easy for me to say…"

"What is it?"

Steve leaned down and kissed me. I was shocked, but my body responded to it. I felt my stomach tying into nervous knots, my heartbeat accelerating, and it just felt normal to me… right. When the kiss, which was chaste and sweet, finally ended as Steve broke away from me, I was breathless and disappointed. For something I had never thought about before, I didn't want it to stop so easily.

"I'm sorry, Sophie. I shouldn't have done that without your permission."

"I'm sorry, too, Steve."

"What are you sorry for, Sophie?"

"This," I said right before I pulled him back to me to kiss him again.

We kissed for another minute before we broke apart.

"Wow," was all Steve had to say when we broke apart.

I smiled at him. This was all new to me, but I liked what I felt when Steve kissed me. And now that he and I got over our issues with each other, there was nobody in the world I was closer to except Bucky. Steve and I walked over to the couch and sat down, still holding hands.

"So what does this mean about us, Sophie?"

"Let's not try to define it just yet. I've never dated before, never felt anything for another person like I just did when you kissed me."

"What do you mean?"

"Steve," I said turning on the couch to look at him, "I have never looked at a guy or a girl and thought about kissing them or wanting to date them before. With how I grew up, it never mattered to me. But you, since I gave Bucky his memories back, we've become so close. You've been there for me whenever I've needed you.

"When I got into this room I could see that you were scared, worried, but there was another emotion in your eyes I couldn't identify. I don't know if I've been oblivious to the fact that it was there or if its new, but I saw it when you were holding me. You shocked me when you kissed me…"

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't apologize for kissing me, Steve. It made me feel things I've never felt before. I don't know what I felt, but my stomach tied in knots, my heart started beating faster, and I felt warm inside. I've never felt that in the arms of someone else before and I like the way you made me feel when you kissed me. I may not be able to identify and label it, but I can feel it and I like it," I said smiling up at him.

"I'm happy you feel something for me, too," he said as he leaned down and kissed me again.

 **Barton's POV:**

Sam and I dropped Steve at the base before leaving for California with Anya. When we got to California, we were met at the airfield by a man and woman who looked to be in their thirties.

"Scott," Sam said, nodding at him.

"Sam, how are you, Man?" Scott said acting much friendlier than Sam was, making me wonder about what happened between them.

"Clint, this is Scott Lang and Hope Pym. Scott, Hope, Clint Barton and Dr. Anya Holden," Sam introduced us.

"Nice to meet you," Hope said. "My father is waiting for us at the house. We should go."

We got into the car with them and Hope drove us to her father's house. Scott and Sam introduced us to Dr. Pym and I realized there was an overabundance of ants in the house… and I remembered Hank Pym was the creator of the Pym particles, which had the ability to increase or decrease the size of atoms. He was the original Ant-Man.

"Nice to meet you, Dr. Pym," I said. "I really appreciate you helping us, especially since I know you will keep her safe."

"Dr. Holden was an extraordinary mind, Mr. Barton. If there is anything I can do to help her get back on her feet, it is my pleasure," Hank said. "Scott and Hope will be helping with security."

"Thank you all. After all these years, she's been through a lot."

"Dr. Holden," Hank said addressing Anya, "do you remember me? I am Hank Pym, we met while you were at Columbia University working on genetic research. I flew out there to get to know you and your work."

Anya took a minute before answering.

"You asked me questions about how my research could be used to increase human stamina and regeneration without making the subject a superhuman."

"Yes!"

"I remember," Anya said shyly. "You were very kind to me. You took my work seriously, not just because of my age."

"Well, I'm glad you feel that way. You're going to be staying with me for a while," Hank said to her before becoming more gentle with her. "Now, you've been through a horrible ordeal, I know. Nobody should suffer the horrors you have over the last two decades. But, I would like, with your permission, to run some tests just to see how your body is really doing. I want to see if there is anything you need treated. Is that okay?"

Anya shrank into me and I could feel her shaking. It broke my heart. Hope must have noticed.

"Dad, how about I do it, and Barton can stay to hold her hand?" Hope volunteered.

Anya stopped shaking a little and looked to me.

"I'm here for you. If you want me to stay while they check you out, I will, Anya."

Anya looked at Hope and nodded. I mouthed a thank you to Hope and she led us away. She sat Anya down on a bed in a room and told her that we would be right back, taking me into the hallway to talk to me.

"How do you want to handle this, Barton? I know that you're married and part of this physical is going to be intimate considering we're talking about nearly two decades of captivity and abuse."

"It's fine. I'm staying."

"Are you sure?"

"Anya is my first love, Hope. She was pregnant with my twins when she was taken from me all those years ago. Our daughter is now working with the Avengers. I'll be fine holding myself together for her through this exam."

"I had no idea that the two of you…"

"Almost nobody does. Please, keep it to yourself."

"I will."

"Thank you."

We went back into the room and Hope explained everything that she was going to do to Anya before she did it. It seemed to help Anya stay calm. I held her hand through everything. Finally, Hope drew some blood from Anya and the exam was over. Hope left the room as Anya got dressed.

When Anya got dressed we stretched out in the bed and I held her to help calm her nerves. She curled into me and it was like no time had passed. I was happier than I had been in years, even though part of me already knew that this happiness was going to come at a cost.

"Clint?"

"Yeah, Anya?"

"Is Sophie happy?"

"I think she's starting to be. She has some really good friends."

"And her job, the Avengers. What is that?"

I explained the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. to Anya.

"Why would she join that?"

"I just retired from there. Technically, I think she took my job," I said with a small laugh. "But when we found Sophie it was because she was using her powers badly, Anya. They called me out of retirement to help them either capture or kill her."

"Kill her? You would have killed a child, Clint?"

"No. As soon as they told me that I started trying to figure out a way to complete the mission without having to kill her, and that was before I knew she had any connection to you, let alone that she was my daughter with you."

"Why did they want her captured or killed?"

"After she thought they killed you she lost her mind a little."

"What do you mean?"

"The scientists responsible for everything the two of you went through all these years?"

"What about them?"

"They're all dead, Anya."

"Sophie killed them all?"

"Almost a dozen of them. Knowing she'd never be safe with them out there, a friend of her's finished the job while she was in the custody of the Avengers."

"Did the Avengers run tests on her?"

"No. Sophie is smart. We caught her and her friend James together. She made a deal for his freedom, agreeing to answer any question, let them run any test they wanted when James contacted her a few days after they released him. When I tracked him down two weeks later because he was getting rid of the rest of the scientists, I knew they would want to hold her to her deal, but I knew before she made the deal I was her father. Nobody else did. So I took her, told her the truth, and when I brought her back to the facility, she moved into my quarters, was allowed to answer their questions, but they were not allowed to run tests on her to find out more about her powers," I explained. "They were a little pissed off at me for the way I manipulated the situation, but since she was a minor and the deal was made without parental consent, I was able to get her out of it."

"Thank you. I never wanted her to be used as a lab specimen. I did everything I could to protect her from that."

"She told me. I didn't understand at first how you leaving on her own was protecting her, but she explained to me what you endured to protect her. And I love you so much for everything you've done to protect her."

"Why did she become an Avenger?"

"Sophie isn't a bad kid. I'm sure you know that better than me. After what she did to the scientists, she felt she owed a debt to society. We argued for months over this point, but she would be an adult so we made a deal she had to check in with me between missions," I explained. "She felt that she could do the most good for the world from the Avengers' base. She works in the lab there, coming up with inventions that help on missions, works in the field to help protect people directly. She said it's her road to redemption."

Anya snuggled closer to me. Less was mattering to me than holding her at that moment.

"What happened to Jason?"

"That's complicated, and I'm not supposed to discuss it."

"Why?"

"It's technically classified, Anya."

"He was our _son_ , Clint."

I told Anya the truth about everything. I told her about Laura, the kids, the farmhouse, Jason's threat, the fact that he tried to kill Sophie to come back to the States and kill me, Laura and our kids. I told her he was buried not far from the Avengers' base because Sophie felt guilty she had to do what she did and felt she couldn't just leave his body. Anya was mortified. She started crying into my chest.

 **Sophie's POV:**

The door to my room opened and Bucky came in. Steve and I were kissing when he did. He looked angry and betrayed. I got up and grabbed him before he could run.

"Bucky, wait."

"So you can make out with him in front of me, more? No thanks, Soph," he snapped at me in Russian.

"JAMES BUCHANAN BARNES! YOU TURN AROUND AND TALK TO ME RIGHT NOW!" I yelled at him in Russian. "I'm not denying what you saw. We were kissing when you walked in here. But before you accuse us of hiding things from you, today is the FIRST time that we have EVER done this."

I was yelling at him in Russian. We may speak in Russian at times, even when we're upset, but I've never outright yelled at him before. He looked from me to Steve.

"Swear to me, on our entire relationship, Sophie, that you have not been sneaking off with him for this. Swear it to me and I will believe you," he said to me softly in Russian.

"Bucky, I swear to you on everything between you and me, Steve and I have never run off to have a secret relationship. You are my big brother and I would never jeopardize that by lying to you about something so petty," I replied to him in Russian. "But you are the most important man to me in this room. If you are against this, I will stop it before it goes any further. I will not risk you for any man, no matter what. I love you. You were my mentor, my teacher, my protector, and my brother long before I ever met Steve, let alone was able to be in the same room with him for more than ten seconds."

"You would really give up someone you have feelings for if I asked you to?"

"Without a question. Since I've met you, you were the one who has always been there when my world fell apart. You were the one who always had my best interest in mind. So, yes, if you asked me to give someone up, I would."

Bucky pulled me into a hug. I let myself melt into his embrace.

"Bucky, we would have told you today. I didn't realize she was supposed to meet up with you and I stopped her because I was so relieved to see her after all this time and I didn't want to wait to tell her how I felt. I'm sorry," Steve said.

"Don't apologize, Steve. I've seen the small changes in how you looked at her, even if you didn't realize you were doing it. Just know, best friend or not, if you ever make her cry, I'll kill you," Bucky said, finally speaking English.

Steve looked scared and I pulled back from Bucky a little, staying in his arms, just far enough that I could look him in the eyes.

"If you _ever_ try to hurt him, Barnes, I'll kick your ass myself," I told him in Russian. "I did not fix your memory and your friendship to be the cause of you and him not being friends. Besides, do I seem like the type of girl who would cry over a guy?"

"You've never been in love, Sophie," Bucky told me.

He was right.

"Have you?"

"I don't know. But I've dated and broken girls' hearts," he told me in Russian.

"Can you guys speak English please? I have no idea what you're saying here," Steve said and we laughed.

"I told Bucky that he is the most important man in this room to me, Steve. He was my mentor, my teacher, my protector, my brother, long before I could stand you and if he wants me not to continue this I would end it. I also told him that if he tried to hurt you I'll kick his ass myself because I didn't fix his memory to come between you two. Then I asked him if I was the type of girl to cry over a guy."

"And I made her swear that this hasn't been on-going. As for her being the type of girl to cry over a guy, I pointed out she's never been in love before, and even though I don't know if I have, I have dated and broken girls' hearts before."

"Steve," I said, "I do feel something for you, and like I said, I don't know how to label it and you are one of the most important people in my life, but if Bucky can't handle us exploring this, I can't do this. You've been my best friend for months and I have so much fun with you, but Bucky is my brother. I can't lose him for this."

"Bucky?" Steve asked. "You're my best friend. Now that you have your memories, what do you have to say about this?"

Bucky let me go and stepped back, looking at the two of us. I could feel Steve move closer to me. Part of me was scared of the choice Bucky would make.

"Steve, how do you feel about her? Tell me honestly."

I turned to look at Steve. When I did, he was already looking at me.

"Bucky, you know I've never been good with women. And I know that technically both of us are a lot older than Sophie, but there's just something about her, something amazing. I couldn't see it at first, I was so focused on my mission and then I found out that you had been with her and it just made me even more suspicious…"

"Steve, Sophie has never been anything more than a kid sister or student to me. I love her, but not as a lover."

"I know that now, Buck, I do. But the fact that after what happened with us on the Helicarrier and your disappearance, knowing you had been staying and helping her, I guess I was jealous because I wanted my best friend back more than anything in the world. And Sophie gave me that. Sure, I had already started to trust her a little, but not much. I didn't know which way was up with her considering how I even found out about her existence.

"But the way Sophie stood up for you, protected you, even against me when we had you in custody, it was something I admired. When we found out you had been captured in Belarus, I wanted to back her immediately with Natasha. Her plan was our best plan to get you out before they saw us coming, but Clint asked me to be the reasonable one in the room, and I couldn't deny that he was her father and she was only seventeen. At the same time, I couldn't deny her plan was ingenious and the fact that she actually made her father agree to it showed me that she wasn't someone who would let age or anything stand in the way of protecting the people she loves, because I know she loves you, Buck.

"The morning I got woken up by J.A.R.V.I.S. to get to the lab, I was scared something was wrong. I didn't want to think it, because I had already learned that Sophie is brilliant, but I was scared that she did something that may have made you worse. When I got there and you _recognized_ me, for the first time in all these years, Bucky, I wanted to kiss her. Deep inside, I always had a fear that you were lost to me for good. And she proved that my faith and hope in you weren't misplaced. I had my best friend back.

"As I got to know her more, understand everything she had been through, with and without you, I couldn't help but to start to feel something for her. At first I thought it was like you, a big brother bond. But when she was captured in Belarus saving you and when you were undercover for three months, I realized that if I never saw her again, I couldn't stand it. I waited too long once before," Steve said, reaching out his hand to me. "Both of you, follow me."

We followed him into my bedroom. There was a frame on my wall and it had a cloth draped over it.

"Uncover it, Sophie," Steve said to me.

I walked over to the frame and took the cloth down. On it, was a beautifully drawn picture of me and Bucky after one of our training sessions, leaning on each other, laughing.

"Did you do this, Steve?" I asked.

He nodded.

"You gave me my inspiration to draw back, Sophie."

Bucky moved closer to the picture. He traced his hand over the paper, looking at it in amazement. Then he looked back at Steve.

"You haven't in all these years?" he asked Steve, in amazement.

"Not since I lost you. The inspiration was gone. Now I have both of you, and it's back."

"It's beautiful, Steve. I love it," I said to him, hugging him.

"I wanted to give it to you for your birthday, but I didn't have the nerve."

"Go ahead," Bucky said.

"Bucky?" I asked, confused.

"I won't stand in the way of you two, but you have to promise me to follow a few rules," Bucky said.

"Anything, Buck," Steve said with a huge smile.

"First, if the three of us are supposed to hang out, you keep the mushy shit to a minimum. I may be agreeing to this, but I don't need to have it rubbed in my face. Second, if we're supposed to hang out, no blowing me off to be alone. Third, no matter what happens between the two of you, you don't let it destroy what the three of us have together. You are both too important to me. I need you both and I'll kick both of your asses if you try to put me in the middle of your relationship drama, got it?"

"I think that's fair. Don't you, Steve?" I replied, laughing.

"Definitely fair."

"Oh and what I said before stands, Steve. You make her cry, I'll kick your ass."

"Buck, I think if I ever make the mistake of making Sophie cry, she'll beat me up herself," Steve replied, hugging me to his side.

"Come on, lovebirds, let's go out to lunch. Sophie, I'm driving your car," Bucky said.

 **Barton's POV:**

Anya fell asleep on my chest. I was so at peace with her curled up on me, I fell asleep with her. For the first time in a long time, I didn't have nightmares of what happened in Sokovia. I'm not sure how long we were out, but I woke up to Sam.

"Hank and Hope want to see you two," he said to me quietly, not waking Anya.

I nodded at him and he left the room. When the door closed, I gently woke Anya. She looked better than when I first got to Maine. After telling her we needed to go see Hank and Hope, we went downstairs together.

"We have the results of your tests," Hope said as we sat down.

"And? Is she okay?" I asked nervously.

"Clint, considering everything Dr. Holden has been through for all these years, she is in remarkable shape. She has some muscle weakness, healed injuries, is malnourished, and obviously has PTSD, _however,_ these are all things that are manageable, nothing permanent or fatal. All of her mental faculties are still in tact, which is incredible, so I think the best thing we can do is keep her off the radar and give her time to heal and cope. After that, we can decide what is best for her," Hank said.

"I'm going to be okay?" Anya asked.

"Yes, Anya, there is no permanent damage to you," Hope confirmed.

"Will I be able to see my daughter?"

"I need to tell her you're alive first, Anya."

"When are you going to do that?"

"I need to go back to base by tomorrow night, Clint. I could bring you with me for a visit."

I didn't want to rush this, but I didn't want to hide this either. I nodded at Sam.

"I'll leave you with Hank and Hope and go see Sophie. I'll tell her."

"Can you go today?"

"Are you sure you're ready for me to do that?"

She nodded.

"I haven't seen my baby in over two years. I miss her, Clint."

"Sam?"

"Let's go."

"Hank, Hope, are you sure?"

"Go, Clint. We'll take good care of Anya. I promise," Hank replied.

Sam and I flew back to the Avengers' base. I called Sophie's cell when I got to the hangar. She picked up on the second ring.

"Hey, Dad," she said laughing. "What's up?"

"Can we talk?"

"What is it?"

"I was thinking in person. I'm in the hangar. Can you meet me so we can go for a ride?"

"I'm coming."

She hung up and I started pacing the hangar. After a few seconds she appeared in the hangar.

"Let's go," she said, leading me to the garage and her car.

When we were about five minutes away from the facility I started feeling tense.

"What did you want to talk about, Dad?"

"Maybe you should pull over," I said, not wanting to tell her this while she was driving.

She pulled over and we got out, Sophie locking the car behind us. She had her bow and quiver with her.

"Sophie, I need to talk to you, about your mother."

She started looking into the trees then started shooting at a random tree. Obviously, she wasn't okay with this conversation.

"Sophie, look at me, please."

She looked at me as she let another arrow fly.

"What do you want to say, Dad? She's gone."

"Sophie, please, let me talk."

"Talk," she said as she went back to shooting.

I told her Stark's suspicion and that I had Steve and Sam try to find her body, with no luck until a few days ago.

"What does that mean, Dad? Did you find Mom's body so we can give her a real funeral?"

"No, Sophie. Steve and Sam… they found your mother… alive."

She stopped shooting.

"You would think that he would have taken ten seconds to tell me that he found my MOTHER!" she started ranting in Russian. "Wait, you put him up to this. You told him not to tell me any of this, didn't you?"

She was mad and blaming me for Steve not telling her, which was true, but I didn't know why it was upsetting her so much.

"Where is she?" she asked in Russian.

"With Hank and Hope Pym. I wanted to make sure that she was actually okay before I told you. I didn't want to tell you that we found her alive if she was going to die before I could get you to her."

She pulled her phone out and sent a text message. Then she went, pulled the arrows out of the tree, stormed back to me, grabbed me tightly and opened a fire portal.

"Hank! Clint's back with an angry looking blonde!" Scott called out.

Hank and Hope rushed into the room.

"We weren't expecting you for at least a day or so," Hope said.

"Hank, Hope, Scott, this is my daughter with Anya, Sophie. Sorry for barging in, but she's a little pissed off and has teleportation abilities due to the experiments run on Anya when she was pregnant."

Sophie nodded at them.

"Clint?" Anya said coming into the room, there was an IV in her arm.

"Mom?" Sophie asked her expression softening slightly. "Is it really you?"

"My baby girl, made of magick and strength of heart, I've missed you," Anya replied to Sophie in Russian.

"Mom!" exclaimed Sophie, letting go of me and rushing to hug Anya before she started speaking Russian. "How? I didn't feel you anymore, they said you were dead. They tried to catch me and I got away, but I…"

"Don't, Sophie. I already know. Your father told me everything already. You did what you had to in order to survive. Dwelling on it won't change it, so don't drive yourself crazy," Anya said in Russian.

"What's going on here?" Scott asked.

"When Sophie is excited or angry or just up to something she doesn't want people to know, she starts speaking in Russian," I explained.

"So which one is this?" Scott asked.

"She's excited to see her mother, Scott," I said trying not to call him an idiot.

"Why does she have an IV in her?" Sophie asked Hank and Hope.

"She's malnourished and her body didn't handle trying to eat," Hope explained gently.

"I'll be back in ten minutes," Sophie said as she opened the fire portal and disappeared.

"Does she do that often?" Scott asked as the lights, which had just come back on, shorted out again.

"It's a side effect of the enhancements she has," I explained.

"And they really ran these experiments while you were pregnant, Anya?" Hank asked.

Anya nodded, shaking slightly so I went to steady her. We sat down around the living room, waiting for Sophie's return. A little over ten minutes later, the lights flickered and went out with Sophie appearing.

"That is way cooler than my suit," Scott said, laughing.

 **Sophie's POV:**

"You are Dr. Hank Pym, creator of the Pym Particles, right?"

"That's me."

"Did you follow your father's steps, Hope?"

"Yes, I did," Hope replied.

"Great. Maybe you can help me with something that may be able to help Mom."

"Sophie, is that what I think it is?" Dad asked.

I glared at him. I was still mad at him.

"Sophie, don't be mad at him. He was trying to protect you," Mom said to me.

"Yes, it is. It's the data and the blood."

"Wait, what data and blood?" Hank asked.

"I just went back to the Avengers' facility and got this vial of blood and the data on a project I've been working on under Tony Stark's nose without him knowing. I'm trying to replicate the healing factor in my genetics synthetically, so it doesn't risk making the person taking it become enhanced by my DNA."

"You've been doing this under the Avengers' noses? Nobody knew?"

"Captain America, but he won't tell, especially right now. But other than him, no. The blood is mine, is been labeled with an experiment number and all the data was kept on a flash drive which was locked up in a biometric safe."

"I'd be able to crack it," Scott mumbled.

"Not if you wanted to survive," I replied.

Everyone, including Dad looked at me in shock.

"I rigged the safe. If anyone tampered with it, any material other than human flesh was placed on the biometric scanner, it would explode. The contents of the safe are kept insulated and wouldn't be affected by the explosion, but a human, they wouldn't fare as well," I explained.

Hank, Hope and even Dad looked at me impressed.

"Knowing how nosey Fury and Stark are, do you really think I would _ever_ leave that facility with the things I have in my safe if I hadn't taken precautions to keep everyone out?"

"Good point," Dad said.

"So, what about the experiment?" Hank said.

"Well, I had limited time to work on it between classes, missions, training, and working on other projects for and with Stark. I think with the expertise you and Hope would be able to offer I might be able to make a breakthrough on it. If we can get it right, it would get Mom on her feet a lot faster… at least from the physical issues."

"Bring that stuff downstairs, we'll show you my lab," Hank said.

I followed him down, pulled up a 3-D image of the data and scans of my blood for him and Hope to manipulate and get a feel for.

"This is incredible," Hope said. "Her DNA sequences, I've never seen anything like this."

"Sophie, what is your goal for this synthesized healing factor?"

"To heal my team and law enforcement. We don't have medical facilities on the scene. I want to use this to be able to spread over a wound to increase a person's regenerative properties until the wound closes or the wound is no longer fatal, giving them increase percentages of surviving a trip to the hospital and the time it would take to treat them. In the case with my mother, if we could synthesize it in a way where we could make it a pill or something she could safely ingest, she could take it and it would heal her from the inside out. Of course, I would also figure out a suicide gene to make sure the synthetic healing factor only worked temporarily and didn't stay active permanently in a person's system."

"You've considered the contingencies, haven't you?" Hope asked. "How old are you?"

"I turned eighteen in March."

"Hope, Dr. Holden graduated Harvard Medical school when she was sixteen. I met her when she was twenty one," I said.

"Well, you obviously inherited your mother's intelligence," Hope said, laughing.

"Let's get to work, girls," Hank said. "Sophie, can Hope draw a fresh sample of blood?"

A thought occurred to me.

"Dr. Pym, would it be better if we had two samples from me?"

"What do you mean?" Hope asked.

"Well, so far I've only been working off of blood that I've been drawing with a needle. What if we took another fresh tube of blood like that, but we also got a sample from a site where I'm injured and my body is actually in the _process_ of regenerating, using the healing factor actively?"

"We'd have to cut you pretty deeply and let you bleed a minute to get that kind of sample, Sophie. That's dangerous. Are you sure it's a good idea?" Hank asked.

"But, she is right, if we had the two samples, one where the healing factor is inactive and one where it is active, it might make it a lot faster to isolate it to replicate it," Hope cut in.

"I heal very quickly. I can practically cut my arm off and be fine within an hour. There's only been one exception to that rule and that will never be a problem again."

"What's that," Hank asked.

"When my mission a few months back involved tracking, fighting and killing the twin brother I didn't know I had. Fighting him seemed to cancel my healing factor for a while. It took me almost two days to heal from that and I felt everything I did to him, including kill him."

"How'd you do it?" Hope asked.

"He threatened Dad and my younger siblings. I tried to reason with him and wanted to hurt people instead. I tried to help him but he didn't want it. I had no choice," I said without emotion.

I saw Hank give Hope a look telling her to drop it.

"If you're sure you can handle it, we'll do it your way," Hank said.

I let Hope draw the blood. After she put a tarp down on the ground to catch my blood, Hank handed me a knife. Without thinking about it, I brought it down fast across my wrist. The cut was deep and bleeding freely. I stopped them from giving me the vial to catch my blood. When I saw that the wound was starting to close, I took the vial from Hank. I filled it quickly and Hope came over to wrap my arm in gauze.

"Are you sure you don't need stitches, Sophie?" Hope asked me.

"I'll be fine in about ten minutes."

"That is incredible," Hope said.

We took the blood samples and got them on side-by-side slides. We saw how isolate the healing factor.

"Are you girls ready to work?" Hank asked us.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter Twenty Four:**

 **Barton's POV:**

Over the next few weeks, Hank, Hope and Sophie communicated through video chats. Hank and Hope agreed to work late nights with Sophie so she would have the full access to Stark's lab while at the Avenger's facility since she had to go back to work. Me, on the other hand, after the week I spent with Anya, I grudgingly went back to Iowa.

Sophie dropped me by fire portal outside the barn. I walked up to the house from there alone. She wasn't as mad at me, but she was still a little upset and didn't want to go into the house and see Laura. When I walked inside, Laura looked up in surprise.

"You called me ten minutes ago to say you were coming home, Clint. How did you get back so soon?" she asked me.

"Sophie brought me by way of fire portal on her way back to work."

"You were with Sophie? Why didn't she come inside?"

"She's a little upset and needed to get back to New York, Laura."

"Why is she upset, Clint?"

I had to tell her. My feelings for her had started changing for her a year ago, when I found that picture. Now, Anya was back. I didn't know what was going to happen between me and Laura.

"Because she found out what I sent Sam and Steve to check out, Laura."

"Which is? Or is it classified?"

It would be so easy to tell her it was classified and not face this. But I owed her better.

"I sent them, initially, to try to find where Sophie's mother had been laid to rest. I wanted to have her exhumed and buried with Ja…" and I realized I made my first mistake.

"Ja-who, Clint?"

"It turns out that Sophie had a twin brother, Laura. He was also enhanced, but he wasn't the type of person we could get through to like Sophie."

"What happened to him?"

"Sophie's first mission. She was tracking an enhanced that was stealing files about her the experiments done on her mother. It turned out to be her twin brother, Jason Clinton, which Sophie had confirmed before she even told me he was my son. He was stealing the files to lure Sophie out and that's what happened. The team was her, Bucky, and Natasha. She let herself get captured so Bucky could get away because she knew she could get herself out.

"When she was almost out, he was waiting for her. They fought, he told her the truth, she tried to reason with him, get him to turn himself over to the Avengers for them to help him like they were helping her. She says he had no interest in it…he implied he would come for me, you, and the kids. He knew about the farmhouse, Laura. Sophie, even though she knew the possibility of him telling the truth and the physical pain it was causing her to fight him, did just that and ultimately had to take him out.

"It crushed her and she couldn't bring herself to leave his body there, so she had it brought back with her. We decided to bury it close to her. Stark suggested after the funeral trying to find their mother to give her closure."

"She killed her own twin?"

"To protect this family? Yes."

"She picked her half-siblings over her twin?"

"I guess so. She said she couldn't risk him coming here and hurting all of you."

"Is this why she pulled away?"

I nodded.

"That poor girl."

"There's more, Laura."

"What else?"

"What I sent Steve and Sam to do, they didn't find Anya's body. They found _Anya_ , Laura. The labs falsified her death certificate to try to lure Sophie out because they needed her in order to finish their experiments. They moved Anya off the grid, but Steve and Sam found her. That's why Sophie's mad at me. I didn't tell her as soon as I found her."

Laura just gawked at me.

"Your daughter killed her twin brother and their mother is still _alive_? THAT is where you've been all week? With your ex-girlfriend, who you had super-powered twins with!?"

Yup, I was in for a long night.

 **Sophie's POV:**

I arrived back at the base and went to find Bucky. I found him training with Natasha. He stopped when he saw me walk into the room.

"Sophie, are you okay?" he asked me coming to me.

"I need to talk, can we go out when you're done?"

"Sure. I should be done in the next half an hour. Just don't tell Steve. I need some you-time."

"Is there an issue in your relationship, Sophie?" he asked.

"Honestly, I don't know, so I don't want to see him until I clear my head. I don't want to see him and say something I shouldn't so I just want to spend some time with you and relax. Do you mind?"

"As long as the two of you aren't fighting and I'm the one in the middle."

"Meet me in my quarters? I want to shower and change before we go."

"I'll see you there."

I left Bucky and went back to my quarters. On the table in the living room was an envelope. The handwriting was Steve's.

 _Sophie,_

 _I don't know when you'll be back on base or when you'll want to see me, so I'm going to give you your space. Unless we have an assignment together, I will not seek you out, I will wait until you are ready to talk to me._

 _Please, forgive me. Yes, I knew about your mother and your father did ask me to keep it from you, but I didn't find out about him wanting Sam and I to look for her until after you left for San Francisco. I had them leave me here at the base when they were on their way to California so I could be here when you came back. I should have told you then. Especially with everything you mean to me, I shouldn't have kept this from you, and I am so very sorry, Sophie._

 _I understand why you're angry at me. But please believe me when I say that I regret not telling you with all of my heart. If there is anything I can do to make this up to you, tell me._

 _-Steve_

I got into the shower, thinking about what Steve wrote in the letter. I wasn't sure how to feel about it. When I finished getting ready I sat down looking over the letter again. Bucky came in and I put it back into the envelope.

"What's that?" Bucky asked.

"A letter from Steve."

"A love letter?" Bucky asked, teasing.

"An apology."

"Do I want to ask?"

"I'm not sure you want to know, but it's related to why I need to clear my mind, and only part of it is Steve, so would you mind?"

He sighed in frustration.

"Fine. Let's go out to eat and we can talk."

An hour later we were being seated at a restaurant. I noticed that Bucky was wearing a tank top for the first time since we left. He'd never done that as long as I'd known him. He was using the camouflage mechanism I added into his arm.

"Your arms look good, Buck," I said. "Tank tops work for you."

Bucky laughed. When he did I could see past the haunted look that was usually there. It was nice to see the man behind the soldier.

"Thanks, I haven't worn a tank top since the '40s. And now, thanks to you, I can."

"If I didn't design your arm, I wouldn't know it wasn't real."

"I've been getting that. Even Natasha was impressed when she saw it."

"That's high praise right there," I said, laughing.

"This isn't why you wanted to come out and talk, Sophie," Bucky said getting serious. "What's the matter? What did Steve get wrapped up in?"

"It's not just Steve, which is the only reason I asked if I could talk to you, by the way. I wouldn't have otherwise."

"Alright, so what happened?"

"Bucky, I found out a few days ago that my mom is _alive_."

Bucky looked at me in shock.

"But you said she was dead. All the records said she was dead, Sophie."

"I know. Apparently, they forged the death certificate and moved her to try to get me to feel safe enough to come out of hiding," I explained. "I guess it backfired considering what we did."

We both smirked.

"So how is Steve wrapped up in this?"

I explained how Dad involved Steve and Sam. I told Bucky that the _day_ Steve and I got together he already knew about my mom. I told him everything, about Mom, Dad, the Pyms, my healing factor project, and I ended with Steve's letter.

"Okay, so Steve knew about your mom, but your dad asked him to keep it from you so you're not sure to be mad at him. And he left you an apology saying he'll steer clear until you're ready to talk? He said he regrets his actions?"

I nodded.

"Forgive Steve. He may be pushy sometimes, but he's an honest guy. If he told you he regrets it and he's sorry he means every word of it. He would never apologize for something if he thought he was right to do it. It's not the way he is."

"I guess you're right about that."

"Your father was an asshole to put Steve in that position knowing how close we all are. He deserves to get his ass kicked."

At this point the waitress came and took our order. I noticed she was checking out Bucky, who seemed oblivious to it.

"Really, Bucky?"

"What?"

"I know this is off the topic, but the waitress was seriously checking you out and trying to flirt with you."

"No she wasn't. No woman wants to date a guy with a metal arm, Sophie."

"You don't look like you have a metal arm, Bucky."

He stopped to think about it for a minute.

"Stop trying to distract me," he said. "I'm not here to flirt with a waitress. I'm here for you. Now tell me about the healing factor project."

I explained everything in Russian.

"How close are you and the Pyms to making a breakthrough?"

"We've made some advances since I was able to change my sample parameters out there."

"What do you mean?"

"Two samples of my blood. One with the healing factor inactive, one with it active."

"That means you were hurt, Sophie," he said giving me a look that said he didn't approve.

"I healed in about ten minutes. Once I did that, we were able to isolate the gene very quickly."

"What did you do?"

"Slashed my wrist," I said wincing, knowing he was going to be mad at me.

He grabbed my hands and flipped my arms to look at my wrists, checking to see if I had any scars. I never had any scars.

"No more of that."

"I'll try. I can't do it here. It's messy and I never know when Stark will walk into the lab."

"So how will you test it?"

"They have someone who works for them out there. He gets hurt, into trouble, he said he'd be the test subject when we're sure it's safe to test."

"Until then?"

"I'll be running variances with J.A.R.V.I.S. overnights."

"Alright. So you're mad at you father, you're considering forgiving Steve, and you're feeling what about your mother?"

"I don't want to feel anything yet, Bucky. She has some issues, not life threatening or anything, but still, and until she's okay, I don't want to get my hopes up that I have her back. Anything can happen in a split-second, you know? It's why I'm trying to get the healing factor project done. I want to help her. When I know she's okay I think I'll be able to accept she's actually back in my life.

"I've missed her so much, Bucky. You know that. You saw how broken I was when I met you. If it wasn't for you, I don't know that I ever would have pulled myself back together."

"You would have. I know you would have, Soph. You're a strong girl. You just needed someone to help you out. You _were_ broken and making some bad decisions. Steve was the same way when he lost his mom to tuberculosis when he was 22. He was alone when she died. His dad had been gone for a while. I had been his best friend for a long time and I was his brother. I was there for him and I guess part of me saw a little of him in you and that's why I gravitated towards you even though I was trying to stay off the grid."

"I'm glad you did. I can't imagine my life without you, Bucky. You really are my best friend."

"Which is why I'm telling you, in this scenario, the one who needs an asskicking I your father."

"I'm seriously considering it, but I'm worried about something else."

"What? Wait, does it have to do with Steve?"

I let out a small laugh.

"No, my dad."

"What are you worried about?"

"Before Dad found Mom he told me how much she meant to him and how he had locked that away for all these years until he found the picture in our safehouse last year. Now he has _Mom_. Laura didn't like when he found _me_. I'm worried him finding Mom will break up his family."

"Sophie," Bucky said gently, "married or not, your mom is already part of his family because of you."

 **Barton's POV:**

Scott picked me up at the airport.

"I thought you had to go home?" he asked.

"My wife kicked me out when I told her the truth about Anya and some other things," I said.

"Harsh. Did you cheat on her?"

"No! Never! No matter what I've done, I've never cheated on her," I said defensively. "We have three kids together. I respect her more than that."

"You _respect_ her? There's the problem, Clint," Scott said.

"What's wrong with respecting my wife?"

"You should _love_ and respect your wife."

I was quiet the rest of the way back to Hank's house. Scott, as much of an idiot as he could be, was right. When Anya saw me, she lit up.

"Laura kicked you out because of me?" she asked me.

"Not just you," I told her. "I told her the truth about Jason and what happened to him. It was too much for her."

"I'm sorry, Clint. I wish I could help."

She hugged me and some of my tension went away. I loved having her in my arms.

"Come on, Clint. I think Hank and Hope are on a video chat with Sophie. I'll bring you downstairs."

I didn't want to go, but I went. He was right. They were all working on her project.

"How's it coming?" I asked.

"We're ready for the first test trial," Hope said. "Scott, on the tarp."

"So commanding," Scott said, but following the order.

Hope took a knife and cut his forearm. They waited a few seconds, wiped the blood off, and then spread what looked like a liquid bandage over it. Within minutes it was healed.

"Cut his other arm," Sophie said on the video chat.

"Wait. What?" Scott asked confused.

Hope slashed with the knife. His other forearm started to bleed, but wasn't healing. Sophie started laughing and celebrating.

"It worked!"

Hank spread the formula over the new cut and Scott's arm started to heal.

"What was the second one for?" Scott demanded.

"Sorry, Scott. I thought we were clear it would take multiple injuries to ensure it worked. I needed to make sure the suicide gene in the synthetic blend worked so the formula only healed your injuries, not changed you DNA."

He glared at Hope who looked away innocently. Obviously she left that part out.

"Thank you for helping me finish this version, Scott. Hank, Hope, I couldn't have done this without you guys," Sophie said. "Do you have any ideas on how to make this safe for ingestion?"

"Sophie, don't you want to acknowledge your father?" Hank asked.

"What are you even doing there?" she asked me. "Didn't I drop you by the barn?"

"Laura kicked me out when I told her the truth about your mother, you and Jason."

"You told her about what happened with Jason and me?!"

"Sophie, I'm…"

"Get him out of there. We have work to do to help my mother and I can't deal with him right now."

Hank looked at me apologetically.

"Scott, take him upstairs to spend time with Anya?"

"Sure, Hank," Scott said, leading me out.

 **Sophie's POV:**

I had texted Steve to meet me in the morning before I found out that Dad told Laura about me and Jason. Hank, Hope and I were up pretty late. I fell asleep on my couch. Steve woke me up.

"Sophie?" he said nudging me gently.

I was startled when he woke me up. I had been having nightmares about Jason again. My heart was pounding.

"I got your text, but you look exhausted. Do you want to talk later after you've gotten some rest?"

"What time is it?"

"Seven thirty."

"I don't have time to sleep. Besides, I don't sleep well on my own. I have nightmares."

"Do you want to talk about why?"

I looked at him and realized that Bucky was right. I needed to forgive him.

"Not now, but thanks."

"What did you want to see me about?"

"Give me a minute," I said getting up and going into my room.

I took a quick shower, brushed my hair and teeth, and got changed. Finally, I went back out to Steve.

"I got your letter, Steve. And I have to admit, I was mad at you for not telling me about Mom. But it's not you I should be mad at. I'm mad at Dad. More now than when I found out Mom was alive, but I'm mad at him, not you. He put you in a bad predicament. He knew how close we are and he still asked you to do this _and_ hide it from me. Maybe you should have told me, but you've known him longer than me. I can accept, to a certain extent, that your loyalty runs deeper to him."

"I'm sorry…"

"Stop apologizing. Dad did this. He shouldn't have. Just like he shouldn't have told Laura about me and Jason, but he did that, too," I said angrily, before softening. "My point is Steve, I didn't see you when I first got back because I wasn't sure whether or not to be pissed off at you and I didn't want to say something until I knew how I felt. Now I do."

"And how is that?"

"I feel like I want to be able to see you when I want to, not let Dad run you out of my life," I said to him.

Steve kissed me and things started to feel right in me again.

"To think," I started, "all of this and he doesn't even know we're dating."

"You haven't told him?"

"I'm mad at him. He's lucky I haven't portaled back to California and kicked his ass."

"He's back in California?"

"Apparently, Laura can't handle me, Jason, and our mother. She kicked Dad out."

"Must be hard for him."

"If it weren't for Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel, I'd say he deserves it. But they don't," I said, my thoughts starting to wander to places I didn't like. "Hey, I meant to tell you. I made a breakthrough in the healing factor project."

"Really?"

"Tested and proven, it will work on non-enhanced people and be temporary. Next step is to make it ingestible and finally, something to use on enhanced people."

"I'm so proud of you, Sophie," Steve said, kissing me again.

"What time do you start training your recruits today, Steve?"

"Ten. What time are you due in the lab with Stark?"

"Ten. But it's more I'm due in the lab, he'll show up any time before one."

I curled into Steve and just let him hold me for a few minutes. My phone started ringing after that. I looked at the number. It was an Iowa number.

"Hello?"

"Sophie?"

"Cooper? What's wrong? It's only seven where you are."

"It's my mom. She's not moving. I don't know what's wrong and Dad's not home. She made him leave. She was mad at him and all I know is it has something to do with you and your mom."

My stomach wrenched. I mouthed to Steve to text Natasha and get her to my quarters immediately.

"I'll open a portal and be there in a few minutes. I'm bringing Aunt Nat with me, okay. Just keep Lila away from your mother and make sure Nathaniel is in his play pen."

"Hurry, Sophie. Dad's not answering his phone."

 _He's probably out cold_ , I thought. It was only five in the morning where he was.

"I know how to get in touch with Dad. I'll do it. I'll see you soon, Cooper."

Nat rushed into my quarters, Bucky on her heels.

"What's wrong?" she asked as I hung up.

"Something's wrong with Laura. Cooper just called and said she's not moving. She kicked Dad out after he told her about me and Jason and that _Mom_ is _alive,_ Natasha."

I dialed Scott's number.

"Hello?" he picked up on the fourth ring, sounding extremely drowsy.

"Sorry, Scott. I know you need your rest, especially after last night, but I need a favor from you and it's something that can't wait."

"What is it, Sophie?"

"I need you to go wake my father up and have him call me. There's an emergency at the farmhouse."

"Is everything okay?"

"I'm not sure, Scott. Tell him give me five minutes and call. I'm opening and portal and going."

"Got it. I'm up and heading to his room."

I hung up the phone and looked at Natasha.

"I need you. I can't handle Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel on my own."

"I can only do so much, Sophie. I've never done too much with kids, only those kids."

"It's more than I have, believe me."

"I can help," Bucky said.

"Are you sure, Buck?" Steve asked.

"I've dealt with it. I couldn't say good-bye."

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked.

"I was the oldest of four children, Sophie."

"You never told me. Steve is right, are you sure you're ready to do this?"

"Yeah. We don't have time to waste."

"Can you open your own portal to the farmhouse?"

He nodded.

"Okay, I'll take Natasha, you meet us there. Steve, I need you to cover for us."

"I will. Call me if you need anything," he said before kissing me. "Go. Your brothers and sister need you."

I grabbed Natasha, who was looking between me and Steve in shock, and opened the portal. We were about five yards from the front door. Bucky appeared behind us a minute later. Natasha got the front door open as my phone started to ring.

"Dad."

"What's going on?"

"Cooper called me because you weren't answering your phone."

"What's wrong?"

"He said Laura's not moving, Dad. Me, Nat, and Bucky just got to the house," I said, seeing Cooper, "Hang on, Dad."

"Cooper, where's Laura?" I asked my brother.

"Her bedroom."

"Nat, Bucky, take care of the kids, make breakfast or something, keep things normal for them," I told them as I ran for the stairs.

"Dad? She's in your bedroom. I'm heading into the room to check her."

I walked into the room and I saw the pill bottle on the bedside table. It was sleeping pills.

"There's a bottle of sleeping pills here, Dad."

"Is she alive, Sophie?"

I walked over and checked her. She was warm to the touch, but it didn't seem as though she was breathing.

"She's not breathing, but she's not cold yet, Dad."

"How could I do this to her?"

"You didn't make this choice, Dad. Pull it together," I said, an idea coming to me. "Dad, I might be able to save her, but it may change her."

"How?"

"I made my own batch of the synthesized healing factor. I had it on me when I left the base. If I cut her open, maybe I can get it to work if I give her CPR after," I explained.

"Put me on speakerphone and try."

I put him on speaker phone then called down to Bucky. He came the room a minute later.

"Is she?"

"I might be able to bring her back."

"Can I help?"

"Give me your knife and you and Nat keep the kids downstairs at all costs, especially Cooper."

Bucky tossed me his knife. I used my fire power to sterilize it as he left the room. Finally, I pulled Laura off the bed and rolled her onto her back. I cut into where her stomach was.

"How's it going, Sophie?"

"Cut is made, about to apply the healing factor."

I spread the healing factor, using almost the entire supply I had made, on Laura's stomach. Then I started chest compressions. It was a hail mary pass and I knew it, but I couldn't let Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel lose her if I could help it.

"Any luck, Sophie? I'm in the car, on my way to the airport with Scott," Dad asked after about ten minutes.

There was nothing. My best chance at saving her had failed. The pills had been in her system too long.

"No. Go back to Hank's house. I'll use a portal to come get you. I need you back here now. I don't think me, Bucky, _or_ Nat can tell Cooper and Lila this."

"Give me ten minutes," Dad said and I could hear he was crushed.

"I'll use the time to sew her back up."

He hung up the phone and as I searched for sewing supplies I texted Steve that Laura was gone and I'd call him in a little bit. Then I called Fury, only because he was the one who made the safehouse for Laura and Dad.

"Fury."

"It's Sophie."

"What can I do for you?"

"I need to have a dead body moved, but I need to make sure police aren't involved and that no autopsy is requested."

"Did you…?"

"No. Laura Barton killed herself last night. I cut her open to try an experimental formula to try to kickstart her body's ability to heal as I performed CPR. It didn't work. She had overdosed on sleeping pills."

"Where's your father?"

"California. It's a long story, but I'm going to get him when I get off the phone with you. I can't be the one to tell Cooper and Lila. Neither should Natasha or Bucky."

"Alright. I'll send a team out there."

"Thank you."

I hung up the phone and went to get Dad.

 **Barton's POV:**

Sophie opened the portal right into my bedroom, where Laura was covered with one of our sheets. I lifted the sheet, unable to process that she was gone.

"Dad, I'm sorry about this. Ever since I came into your life things have been falling apart with you and Laura."

"You were right, Sophie, This wasn't my choice. It wasn't your choice either."

I kissed Laura's forehead.

"Fury's sending a team to move her without an autopsy being called for. You can give them instructions when they get here."

I nodded at her and got up. I started down the stairs.

"Daddy!" Lila yelled as she jumped into my arms. "I thought you weren't home!"

Cooper looked from me to Sophie.

"Where's Mom, Dad?"

"Sit down, Cooper."

Cooper sat down as Nat and Bucky took Nathaniel and followed Sophie outside the house.

"What's wrong? You weren't here."

"Cooper, I know why you called your sister. And she got in touch with me and came here to help as soon as she could."

"Where's Mom?" Lila asked.

"Mom is in heaven with Uncle Pietro, honey," I told her.

"She's dead?!" Cooper shouted at me.

"Yes. Sophie tried to bring her back, but it was too late."

Lila started crying in my arms and Cooper got up and ran for the door.

"I hate you! Whatever happened with Sophie's mom made this happen!"

He stormed out the door as I held Lila crying in my arms. I could hear Bucky calling after him. I had to trust one of the three of them would keep track of him while I comforted Lila. He didn't want me near him at the moment, anyway. If he did, I'd be there. But until then, I needed to figure out how to stop fucking up everything I touched.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter Twenty Five:**

 **Sophie's POV:**

Laura was buried in an Iowa cemetery a few days after her suicide. After some of the agents with psych backgrounds talked to Dad, Cooper, and Lila, they determined the most likely cause of Laura's suicide was post-partum depression that was exacerbated by stress. Dad and I both agreed that the farmhouse had been compromised. Too many people had known about it after Laura's suicide, so we agreed he needed to take my siblings and move. I helped him.

The day after Laura's funeral I called Hank Pym. I had a business proposal for him. He picked up on the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Hank, it's Sophie."

"How are you holding up, Sophie?"

"Could be worse, I guess. How's my mom?"

"She's looking better. Hope made a breakthrough on make the formula safe for ingestion. We think with a few more doses your mother will be as good as new."

"That's great!" I said, feeling excited at the first good news since Laura's death.

"This isn't why you called, is it, Sophie?"

"No."

"What do you need?"

"I have a business proposal for you."

"I'm listening."

"I'm with the Avengers. I'm part of their strike team. I can't have my identity out there. But I want to manufacture the healing factor and get it where it would do the most good. I think you and Hope can do that and get it done quickly."

"We can. Why the sudden rush?"

"I need the money, honestly. It's not that I don't get paid decently for what I do, but Dad needs to sell the farmhouse in Iowa and move with my brothers and sister. It's compromised."

"I understand. We'll put your name on the patent, but it will be marketed under my company."

"Thank you, Hank."

"In the meantime, find a new place and I'll lend you the money. Consider it an advance on what you'll ultimately earn when this hits the market."

"Are you sure, Hank?"

"Yes. After just getting your mother back, do you really think I would not help keep your father and siblings safe?"

"Thank you so much, Hank."

"Don't thank me. You did the majority of the work on this project and it was from _your_ DNA sequence. I figure we could split the profits 60/20/20. Sound fair? Obviously, you would get the 60%."

"That is so generous, Hank."

"Like I said, you did most of the work."

"Still, thank you. You have helped me advance my work so much. I appreciate your guidance and everything you're doing for my family more than I can express."

"Just keep up the good work," Hank said. "You should go start looking into a new place for your family. By the way, I would put it under a cover name, and not one of your father's. If anyone can find it, this will be for nothing."

"Me and Bucky already talked about that. We both have several covers that nobody knows about that we used before the Avengers caught us last year."

"Good girl. Stay one step ahead of the rest. Call me when you have more news."

"I will. Thank you again, Hank."

I got off the phone and went to the guest room Dad was sleeping in.

"Dad?"

"Yeah, Sophie?" he said groggily waking up.

"We can start looking for a new house for you guys. I'll have the money."

"I can't let you…"

"Dad, stop. You agreed staying here isn't safe. It's compromised. We need to get you and the kids out of here."

"How are you going to pay for this, Sophie?"

"I called Hank. I'm putting the synthetic healing factor on the market through Pym Tech. He said, given the circumstances, he'll give me an advance to get you guys out of here. He's sure he'll make it back quickly once the product is out."

He sighed.

"I don't know where to go. Iowa has always been my safe place. It's not anymore," Dad said defeated.

I sat down next to him and held his hand, not sure what to do.

"We find you a new safe place," I said, trying to be supportive. "Do you want to stay somewhere with space like this or do you want to move into a more populated area?"

"Honestly, I like the space. I like how peaceful it is."

"Then how about somewhere like Pennsylvania or even heading west, Montana or Wyoming?"

"We can start in Pennsylvania. It would move us a little closer to you."

"Okay, I'll start looking. Is there anything you need?"

"The kids…"

"Steve's got them."

"What is he still doing here, Sophie? I understand Bucky, but why Steve?"

I took a deep breath.

"Dad, Steve and I have been dating since my mission in San Francisco ended. It almost ended when I found out that he had anything to do with finding Mom, but we got through it."

"What?" he growled at me.

"Dad, stop. Steve and I… he makes me feel happy, Dad. I've never felt like I do with him before."

"Sophie, he's almost 100 years old!"

"That's a technicality. He doesn't age the way a normal person, and I hate to tell you this, but I won't either, Dad. It's something me, him, and Bucky all have in common. I feel safe with him, Dad. Just being in his arms, things just mellow out sometimes for me to see what's in front of me."

"I need time to deal with this, Sophie."

"I know, Dad. But I'm not leaving him, so you need to. He's important to me."

 **Barton's POV:**

Sophie and Bucky moved Cooper, Lila, Nathaniel and I to Pennsylvania. She got a house with a lot of land, a farmhouse, and a barn. The farmhouse in Iowa was for sale and the money would be sent to her and she would transfer it to my accounts which she had encrypted so I couldn't be tracked by anybody. Sophie and Bucky installed a security system so I would know if anyone entered the property at any point. An alert would be sent to my phone so the kids wouldn't know of the possible trouble.

The land was actually beautiful. There was a wooded area and a stream that ran on part of the property. I knew Cooper and Lila would come to love it. The house itself was bigger than the house in Iowa. In time, I thought even I could be happy there.

We had been moved in for two weeks when I decided it was time to move Anya in. I sat Cooper and Lila down with Sophie and I. I knew it wasn't going to be an easy conversation.

"What is it, Dad?" Cooper asked.

He was still having issues with me.

"I wanted to talk to you about Sophie's mom, guys."

"What about her?" Lila asked.

"I found out that she was alive. She's staying with a friend of mine and Sophie's right now because she was hurt and sick."

"Is she okay?" Lila asked, genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, Lila. My mom is better now. I created a formula that was able to help make her better."

"But you couldn't help _our_ mom?" Cooper snapped at Sophie.

Sophie looked like she had been hit.

"Cooper! Apologize to your sister right now!"

"Why? Why couldn't she help Mom?"

"I tried," Sophie said softly. "The formula I made to help my mom…"

"Sophie," I said putting on her's. "You don't have to…"

"He deserves to know the truth, Dad," she said before turning back to Cooper, trying not to shake. "The formula I made for my mom was because she was sick and hurt after years of being held in a lab and having tests run on her. It's why I am the way I am, Cooper. They started doing that when she was pregnant with me. The way the formula worked was it helped the body heal a lot faster.

"When I went upstairs, your mom wasn't breathing. I had a supply of my formula on me. I had made it the night before. Figuring how your mom got to be the way she was, I needed to apply it internally. So I did, and then I performed CPR for about ten minutes, forcing her blood to pump, trying to get her body to accept the formula and repair itself. She was too far gone. I'm sorry. I really tried."

"That's what you were up there with her so long for before you disappeared and came back with Dad for?"

Sophie nodded.

"She was on the phone with me the whole time, Cooper, trying to find a way to fix your mother. When she realized she couldn't, she opened a portal to bring me home to be with all of you."

"Why did Mommy go away, Daddy?" Lila asked.

"She was depressed and upset."

"Why?" Cooper asked.

"Sometimes, when a woman has a baby, they get really depressed because their body kinda goes outta whack, Cooper," Sophie explained. "That happened to your mom when Nathaniel was born and the signs weren't very clear. She covered it pretty well until I came into the picture and started fighting with Dad. When she found out some things I did a few months back and that my mom was still alive, I guess it was too much stress for her."

"What did she find out about you, Sophie?" Cooper asked.

"Cooper, we'll talk about this later, without Lila. Right now, I want to talk to you about Sophie's mother."

"Fine," he said looking annoyed. "Talk."

"Anya, Sophie's mother, is going to come stay with us for a while. I'm not sure how long, but for at least for a little while until she decides what she wants to do now that she's got her freedom for the first time in almost twenty years."

"Is she nice?" Lila asked.

"Yes, Sophie. I used to be very close to her when I was younger."

"She can't take Mom's place, you know," Cooper snapped.

"That's not why I'm doing this, Cooper. She is your sister's mother and she needs help. Family takes care of family and she is family."

"Whatever," Cooper said, walking away.

I went to grab him, but Sophie stopped me.

"I got this, Dad."

 **Sophie's POV:**

I found Cooper leaning against a tree at the very edge of the woods. I sat down next to him.

"Cooper, I know you're mad at me and Dad. I get it. I was mad at Dad for a while when I found out about my mom."

"Why? Why were you mad at him? You were getting your mom _back_ , Sophie."

"Because I thought my mom had been dead for more than two years. I haven't even known Dad that long, Cooper, and he didn't tell me when he found out she was still alive. He waited."

"Why did Mom kick Dad out? I know she was mad about you and your mom, Sophie, but _why_?"

I took a deep breath. His mother was dead. He deserved honesty.

"Cooper, there's a lot you don't know about me. Your mom did. And when she found out the last of it _and_ that my mom was alive, that Dad had spent a week with her without telling your mom, it was too much for her."

"What don't I know about you, Sophie?"

I told him everything. I told him the truth about what I did when I thought Mom had died, how I met Bucky, why I met Dad, and everything about Jason. When I was done, he looked at me in shock.

"Our brother threatened to come kill all of us?" he asked, still in shock.

I nodded.

"So you killed him to keep us all safe? Even though it hurt you to just hit him?"

I nodded, and a tear slipped down my cheek. Cooper surprised me. He hugged me.

"I'm sorry, Sophie. I thought you were the bad guy here, that you made Mom do this, but you've been out there protecting us since you've met us. You've been watching out for us."

I hugged Cooper back.

"Yeah, Coop, I have," I said, relieved that he didn't hate me. "Listen, I know that my mom is alive again, but I went more than two years thinking she was dead. I get what you're feeling. Even though I'm going back to work after I bring Mom here tomorrow call me anytime if you need to talk."

"Thanks, Sophie."

"Let's go back inside. Dad feels bad enough about all of this. He blames himself for your mom without you blaming us."

The following day, Bucky brought Steve to Pennsylvania while I went to California to get Mom. After thanking Hank, Hope, and Scott again for everything, I took Mom outside and opened the portal to the Pennsylvania house.

We went inside and it felt weird. Mom and Dad were getting a second chance with new kids. I wasn't jealous, but I never thought I would see it happen.

"Mom," I said leading her to the living room, "this is Cooper, Lila, Nathaniel, my siblings, and James Barnes, and Steve Rogers. James is my best friend and Steve is my boyfriend."

" _The_ Steve Rogers? Captain America?" Mom asked.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"It's an honor to meet you, Captain Rogers. I've read all about your case and transformation. The results are impressive."

"James is also like Steve, Mom. Different circumstances that I won't get into, but all three of us are like that."

"Are you also from the World War II-era, James?" Mom asked.

"Yes, Ma'am. And please, call me Bucky."

"Impressive. Especially for the available technology of the time."

"Show her! Show her! Show her!" Lila shouted at Bucky.

"What, Lila?" Bucky asked.

"The trick with your arm!"

Bucky hit the pressure point on his arm and it went from the color of his flesh to the metallic arm it actually was. My mom gasped in astonishment.

"Is it functional?" she asked, turning into a scientist.

"Fully," Bucky said.

"Do you mind?" Mom asked gesturing at the arm.

"Not at all," Bucky said.

Mom inspected the arm and then pressed the pressure point, turning it flesh-colored again. She inspected it more before turning it metallic again.

"A fully functional cybernetic prosthesis with camouflage capabilities? How long have you had it?"

"I've had different ones over the years, but I've had this one since Christmas."

"Where did you get it?"

"Sophie made it, Ma'am."

Mom looked at me with pride. Bucky turned the arm flesh-colored again as Mom came and hugged me.

"So you're Sophie's mom?" Cooper asked finally talking.

"Yes, I am," Mom said looking at him.

"Thanks for giving me a big sister."

"You seem like a sweet boy, Cooper."

Cooper and Lila took Mom to show her around the house. Dad, Steve, and I sat down while they did.

"Have you enrolled them in school yet, Dad?"

"No. I'm not sure what to do yet.

"Not sure what to do about what?" Mom asked coming back with Cooper and Lila.

"I have to put Cooper and Lila in a new school. I don't know what to do, if I should send them to a regular or private school."

"I could teach them," Mom offered.

"You could?" Cooper asked, confused.

"Sure. I became a doctor when I was sixteen, Cooper," Mom said before turning back to Dad. "If you're worried about it, I can homeschool them for the time-being. That is, if Cooper and Lila are okay with it."

"I would get to sleep past six _and_ go to school in my pajamas? Sounds good to me," Cooper joked.

"Could I wear a princess tiara to school?" Lila asked.

"If you still did your schoolwork, sure," Mom replied.

"I guess homeschooling it is. At least for now," Dad said.

While Dad, Bucky, and Steve looked after the kids, Mom and I sat on the porch.

"Mom, I've missed you so much. I know I've kept you at a distance since I found out you were back…"

"You were scared it was too good to be true?"

I nodded.

"After everything we've both been through, Sophie, how can I blame you for that? The important thing is that we're together now."

"For a little longer. I have to go back to work tonight. I've been out since Laura killed herself."

"How often will I be able to see you?"

"If you need me, have Dad call me. If I'm at the base, I'll come right away, I promise. If I'm on a mission, I'll come stay for a few days when I come back," I said, hugging her, finally letting the reality of her being back hit me, as the tears started to flow. "I'm never going to let anything happen to you again Mom, I swear it."

"Sophie, nothing that happened to me was your fault. I made my choices because I loved you, not because you made me."

"How can you still love me? I know you know about what I did after I thought you died," I said, letting her go and looking at the ground. "I know you know the truth about what happened to Jason."

"You were protecting yourself before they could capture you to torture you. I can't stop loving you for that. And your brother… Sophie, Clint told me you tried to reason with him. Killing him wasn't your first choice. It was your last resort because you were afraid he was a bigger threat to the people you love. I can't hate you for loving your father and younger siblings so much that you put them ahead of Jason if he was going to hurt them all," Mom said as she hugged me to her.

"I've missed you so much, Mom. I was so broken when I thought you were dead. If it weren't for Bucky, I wouldn't have pulled myself together. He taught me so much while I was on the run and doing what I was doing. He even tried to keep the Avengers from finding me."

"Sounds like you have a good friend in him."

"I do, Mom."

"And how did you end up dating Captain America?"

I gave a small laugh and told her how I went from hating to tolerating to ultimately feeling something for Steve.

"You're kinda like your father, Sophie."

"What do you mean, Mom?"

"He didn't think he could care about or love anyone either. At least not until he met me when he was a little younger than you are now."

"Do you really think I might be falling for him?"

"How do you feel when you're with him?"

"Safe, invincible. In a different way than I do when I'm with Bucky, because I feel that when I'm with him, too. And when he kisses me, Mom, my head gets fuzzy, my stomach ties in knots, and my heart races."

"Sophie, I think you _already_ fell for him. Just tell me you're being safe…"

"Mom! Seriously!"

"What? I don't want to see you ending up a mother before you're ready."

"I'm a virgin, Mom. I think Steve is, too, but I haven't asked. So can we not have this conversation? He's the first guy I've ever dated. I'm not rushing into anything."

"Good for you, Baby."

I looked at my watch. It was time to go.

"You have to leave?" Mom asked.

I nodded.

"I'll come back as soon as I can. I promise."

Bucky and Steve came out with Dad, Lila, Cooper and Nathaniel. I said good-bye to Mom, Dad, Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel. Then, together holding Steve, Bucky and I opened a fire portal to the hangar.

 **Barton's POV:**

It had been a little over a month since Anya moved in with us. Lila and Cooper were adjusting well to her. It was three in the morning when my cell started ringing. It was Sophie. I answered it quickly.

"Sophie, what's wrong?"

"I need you to meet me in the barn. I'm upset and I don't want to talk to Steve or Bucky about this, Dad."

"I'll see you in a few minutes," I said getting out of bed.

Sophie hung up the phone and I threw on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a heavy flannel shirt. After throwing on my boots, I made my way down to the barn. Sophie was pacing inside of it. She had some papers or pictures in her hand.

"What's wrong, Sophie?"

"Do you remember I had J.A.R.V.I.S. download everything he could find on Jason before I got sent to San Francisco?"

I nodded at her. I remembered she gathered all the information and didn't have a chance to do anything with it.

"What about it?"

"I was going through it tonight and I found this," she said.

She handed me the photos. They were pictures of the agent who had drugged and tried to rape her not long before she turned eighteen. He was with Jason. The files underneath showed background files on him revealing that he had worked as private security in a few of the labs Jason had been held in. Sophie's attempted rapist knew her twin.

"What do you think this means? Do you think he knew who you were and tried to do this to get at Jason?" I asked.

"Look at the last picture, Dad, and the date on the surveillance mark."

I flipped to the last page and pulled it out of the stack. I looked at it. The agent looked friendly with Jason. The surveillance mark dated the picture as being taken on my birthday, just a few days before Sophie was attacked. The pieces fell together in my mind and I pulled her into a hug.

"He tried to have me _raped_ , Dad. To get me to leave the Avengers' facility so he could get to me. Who does that to their twin sister?" she said, crying.

"There was something wrong with Jason. You had a good heart, even though you did bad things, Sophie. He was a sociopath. He didn't care about anyone. You care about people so much, and I know it hurts that you did it, but that's why you took him out, to keep the people you care about safe." I said trying to comfort her.

"How could we have shared a womb and be so different, Dad? We're both your's and Mom's kids. Why were we so different?"

"It may have been because you had your mom to guide you and he didn't."

I led Sophie back to the house and held her as she cried herself to sleep, feeling helpless. She hadn't taken her attack this badly until now. It worried me. Unfortunately when I woke in the morning she was gone. There was a note on the nightstand.

 _Dad,_

 _Thanks for being there for me last night. I needed it. I need time to deal with this and I'll be in touch, but I had to get back to work. I love you._

 _~Sophie._

I hoped that she could handle this new information.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter Twenty Six:**

 **Sophie's POV:**

A month after I found out the truth about my attack I was at breaking point. Stark had technically retired again, so I was running the lab on top of everything else. I was having nightmares about Jason again and they were worse this time. I was sleeping on the couch in Bucky and Steve's quarters because I couldn't handle being in bed with either of them. I needed a safe place off the base to call home.

Bucky, Steve and I were at lunch in town. I needed the time away from the base and they knew it.

"How would you guys feel about moving off the base?" I blurted out.

"What?" Steve asked.

"I don't think I can keep living there," I said.

"What's wrong, Sophie?" Bucky asked.

I explained why I had been pulling away from them. They were both pissed off and I could tell Bucky was struggling not to start yelling in Russian, something both of us were working on because Steve didn't understand us when we did. Steve hugged me to him.

"You could have come to us sooner, Sophie," Steve said.

"We would do anything for you," Bucky replied.

"I know, but I needed to try to process this, and I can't. But I can't keep staying there, where it happened, where he had a _mole_."

"We can get a place off-base. I don't care," Bucky said. "But I think we should take the same precautions as we did with your dad. Cover names on the paperwork so nobody can find us. Considering the tension about people with super-human abilities that are starting to build, I think it would be better if the three of us, specifically, had a place to go off the grid."

I nodded.

"You want the place we get to be completely off the grid? Can you guys do that?"

"We did it when I was on the run, and I've done it for Dad, so yeah, we can."

"Alright, then let's do it," Steve said.

Steve, Bucky, and I found a four bedroom house with a few acres of land a few hours' drive from the base two weeks later. Between the money we had been saving and the money that I had been generating since my formula had been made public, we were easily able to pay for it in cash. We furnished the house, fit it with a security system like Dad's, and I installed a system that would allow Bucky and I to use our portals without shorting the systems. After testing it, I decided to install it at Dad's. The day we had packed up our stuff at the base, Fury stopped us in the garage.

"Where are you three going?"

"We've decided to move off-base," I replied.

"On whose, authority, Holden?"

"We're employees, Fury, not prisoners. If we want to live on our own, we can," Steve said.

"Fine, we'll need your information."

"Not going to happen," Bucky said. "We're not giving that to _anybody_."

"Excuse me?"

"Listen, Nick, you kept Barton's farmhouse and family out of the files. You're going to do it for us now, too, because we're not going to tell you where it is. With the rising tension against enhanced humans, it's better we have a place to disappear in case of an emergency," Steve explained.

"And what about your work commitments?"

"Two of the three of us can open portals, Nick. I think we can get here quickly in an emergency," Steve said.

With that, the three of us put the last of our things in the truck. Bucky drove the truck, Steve drove his motorcycle, and I drove my car. When we got to the house, we moved into our respective rooms. After we did, I went outside and started searching my car and Steve's motorcycle, to make sure there were no devices anyone could activate to track our vehicles to the house. I found one on my car and removed it. I gave Bucky the keys to my car so he and Steve could return the truck and took their phones so I could check out the electronics for the same thing. I found a few devices, but disabled and removed them all, getting us off the grid.

 **Barton's POV:**

The tensions were rising between the government and enhanced humans like Sophie, Bucky and Steve. I was worried. People wanted to regulate how they worked. I knew that, especially the three of them, wouldn't agree to it.

"Are you okay, Clint?" Anya asked, coming outside to where I was shooting.

"Yeah, just worried about Sophie and the boys," I admitted. "With all this talk of legislation for enhanced humans, I don't know what will happen to them."

"They're strong, smart, capable people, Clint. They're going to figure it out."

"This world is cruel, Anya. You know that better than anyone. So does Sophie. I don't want her to get hurt again."

"She will be fine, Clint. Have faith in her," Anya said as she kissed me.

Anya and I had been living together for a few months and started dating again officially for about a month. Cooper and Lila had a hard time dealing with it at first, but we didn't flaunt our relationship in their face, and it was making it easier for them to cope with it. We still slept in separate bedrooms, not wanting to push things that far with Lila and Cooper's comfort zone.

"Where are the kids?" I asked.

"Cooper is writing a history essay on the civil war. Lila is working on vocabulary. Nathaniel is taking a nap. I figured I would come check on you while they were occupied."

"Thanks," I said, kissing her, which made the world feel right. "For everything you do, Anya. Helping me with my kids, helping me in general. I love you. I never stopped."

"I love you too, Clint. And I want to help. You've always done everything you can for me, even before you knew me. Before you loved me, you were risking your life for me. I love you so helping you is an easy task," she said, giving me one last kiss. "I should get back inside. Have faith in Sophie. She may have cracks in her, but she's never broken beyond repair."

I nod at her, knowing she was right. With the right people in her life, Sophie had bounced back from every bad thing that had happened. I just hoped it stayed that way.

I was about to get lost in my thoughts again when Bucky and Steve appeared next to me. It didn't even phase me anymore.

"What can I do for you fellas?"

Bucky looked at Steve and walked away into the woods.

"I wanted to talk to you, Clint," Steve said. "Without Sophie knowing."

"You know how Sophie is about being lied to, Steve. If you want to keep your girlfriend, you might want to think about that before you keep talking."

"I know that, it's just… I don't know how to say it…"

"Just come out and say it, Steve. I've never seen you this flustered."

He looked at his shoes.

"I want your permission to marry her, Clint."

I looked at him in shock.

"What?"

"I love your daughter, so much. I haven't felt this way since before I went into the ice, with Peggy. But she makes me happy and I love her. It's probably really old-fashioned, but I want your permission to marry her."

"What does it matter to you what I think? You guys are already living together, marriage will just be a piece of paper," I said.

"Actually, the three of us live together, in separate rooms."

"Wait… you don't…"

"No. I've never tried to. I'm not with Sophie for that, Clint. I love her. Her mind, her personality, her heart. It would mean a lot to me if I knew that you were okay that I asked her to become my wife."

I looked at Steve, a man I had been in countless life or death situations with. For the first time I saw how vulnerable he actually was. He may have been older than me, but emotionally, physically, he wasn't. And seeing him this open and vulnerable made me realize that Sophie meant as much to him as she described him meaning to him. There was only one thing to say.

"You have my permission, Rogers. I really think you'll take care of her the way she should be."

"I promise, I will, Clint," a smile crossing his face, hitting his eyes.

Bucky came back from the woods.

"We need to go. Sophie texted asking what's taking so long to pick up lunch, Steve."

"Both of you, take care of her and yourselves with everything going on. If you need help, call me," I told them before Bucky opened the portal and disappeared with Steve.

 **Sophie's POV:**

Bucky, Steve, and I were supposed to go out after work, but Bucky said he needed some time alone and for us to go without him. Steve took me to the restaurant where we had our first date. It was a sweet gesture. We were having a great time. Before dessert, Steve got down on one knee in front of me.

"Sophie Francis Holden, I love you more than anyone in this world. You helped heal my broken heart. Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" he asked me.

He pulled the ring box out of his pocket and I was in shock. I nodded at him, my voice failing me. He put the ring on my finger and I got jumped into his arms, kissing him.

"I love you, Steve."

I didn't realize the rest of the restaurant was paying attention to us, but they started applauding the two of us. We sat back down and I felt happier than I had been since I got my mother back.

When we got home, Bucky was in the living room with Hank, Hope, Scott, Mom, Dad, Cooper, Lila, Nathaniel, and the rest of the team. A banner was on the wall that said congratulations. It was then that I knew that they all knew, but I wasn't mad. I was too happy.

Mom hugged Steve and welcomed him to the family. Bucky came over to me while my family both welcomed and warned Steve about joining the family.

"Congratulations, Sophie. I'm happy for the two of you," Bucky said. "You two are perfect for each other."

"Thanks, Bucky."

"He really loves you. He even asked your father if he could propose first."

"Wait, you mean he risked getting killed for this?"

Bucky nodded.

"He knows what your father means to you. Just like he knows what I mean to you. He made sure both of us were okay with this before asking you."

"Would you have really said no?"

"Seeing the two of you together? How could I?"

I hugged him.

"Thank you for helping him make tonight perfect, Bucky," I said as I kissed his cheek.

The party was great, celebrating with the people who meant the most to me. Unfortunately, the celebration was short-lived. When it was over, Bucky and I were teleporting the guests home, starting with those to the Avengers' facility. Fury grabbed us while we were there.

"Barnes, Holden, I'm glad you're here."

"We're technically not," I said.

"I have a mission for you. You leave tonight."

"We need an hour. We have to get Barton and his kids home from our house first, Nick. We'll come back and you can get us up to speed."

"Holden? Is there a problem?" he asked me, noticing neither Bucky nor me seemed thrilled.

"I just got engaged, Nick. But fine, the job must be important if it can't wait until the morning."

"Good," he said. "And congratulations."

He walked away. I muttered some not nice things under my breath as he did, making Bucky laugh as we opened the portal back home. We took Mom, Dad, and the kids home, then went back and did the same for Hank, Hope, and Scott. We made one final trip home and sat Steve down.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Bucky and I have a mission that we need to leave for tonight. Fury told us when we brought the team back to base."

"Tonight? But we just got engaged, Sophie. You would think we would have one night…"

I kissed him.

"I love you, but this must be important if it couldn't wait until the morning."

"You're right."

"We'll be back as soon as we can," Bucky reassured him. "Will you be alright?"

"I will. I don't know if Fury will when I'm through with him."

Bucky and I smiled at Steve. We got up to get mission-ready. Steve stayed at my side until Bucky and I left.

 _One month later:_

I was watching Bucky in the scope of my rifle. I was his ghost on this mission. Watching him in the scope, I wasn't confident in the way things were going. He was acting off. I saw what was coming a split-second before Bucky did. Soviets, who obviously recognized him.

"Bucky, retreat," I said into the comms.

Bucky didn't answer me. I saw they said something to him and then went to grab him. That's when things went from bad to doomed in a second flat. Bucky broke his cover, started attacking the Soviets. People in the square tried to stop him and he attacked them too. I opened a portal to him, trying to calm him down.

"Bucky! Stop! Get to the meeting point!" I said to him.

He wasn't responding to me. I glanced at the Soviets who were smirking. I looked around the square and realized what we'd done. Me using the portal short-circuited the bombs they were carrying. Bucky was destroying everything in his path. I needed to do something. He had already destroyed half the square. I opened a portal and pushed him through, after disabling his cybernetic arm. Before I could get myself out, the bombs detonated, and everything went black.

 **Barton's POV:**

The laws had passed. Enhanced humans were now required to register with the government and only interfere in situations when called on by them. Stark spearheaded the campaign after some mission in Sudan led to half a village square being destroyed.

I was worried. I hadn't been able to get a hold of Steve, Bucky, or Sophie. Nat wasn't answering my calls. Something was wrong and I didn't know what it was. Finally, after another week of radio silence, Steve, and Bucky showed up with Hank, Hope, and Scott.

"Where's Sophie?" I asked, fearing the answer.

"I'm sorry, Clint," Bucky said.

I struggled to contain my rage.

"What the hell is going on here?"

"Sophie was arrested by Stark, Clint. The mission in the Sudan that led to the accords, it was Bucky and Sophie's. Bucky went into a PTSD episode and started destroying the square. When Sophie showed up to stop him, it short-circuited the bombs that the Soviets that triggered the PTSD had. She got him out but they exploded before she could get out."

"Are you sure she's alive?" I asked, more scared than angry.

"Her pyrokinesis and enhanced healing saved her life. She was knocked out by the blast, which is why Stark and Natasha were able to move in and apprehend her before I could find her," Steve said, ready to cry. "I found Bucky, who had gone underground, with Sam, and we've been on the run since."

"Why?"

"We're against the registration, Clint. Sophie was too. As long as the accords are in place, they won't let her out of jail. We need to break her out."

"Are you sure Natasha helped Stark arrest her?" I asked, desperately wanting to believe she didn't.

"Yes. The news showed coverage of them apprehending her," Hank said.

"We need to get her back," I said, getting angry again.

"Agreed," Steve said. "I've been using our house and property as an unofficial base for those opposed to the registration. If you're in, we'll bring you back there, Clint."

"I'm in," I said, without a second thought.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the end for now. A sequel is already in the works, picking up where this one leaves off.**


End file.
